


Love Letters for my Amative Lover

by StarryIllusions (StrawberrySweetYume)



Series: Love is in the Air (BillDip Week Works) [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: BillDip, Billdip Week, Fluff, Love Letters, M/M, cuteness, healthy relationship, mention of sexual intercourse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:59:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6069643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberrySweetYume/pseuds/StarryIllusions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Human celebrations never really had any weight in Bill's eyes. Even so, it wasn't unusual for him to indulge his Pine Tree in some of them...Valentine's Day had just never been one that had come up between them as something Dipper wanted to celebrate. After all, the boy had never truly brought it up, so it was a bit of a surprise when Mabel insisted, quite fervently, that her brother did want to celebrate it and that he should have already known this one way or another a long time ago. </p><p>At the beginning of February, Dipper starts receiving letters from his life-partner...given that it's Bill, he is a bit surprised when none of them contain screaming heads or some summoning enchantment for a creature or another, but instead loving words written in golden ink.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A glum Valentine's Day Picture

“You still have that?” The blond male, seeming just slightly surprised by the outcome despite the incredulous tone he adopted for his question, eyes sparkling in expectation. Not far from where he was sitting down cross-legged on the colourful magenta carpet between a few momentarily forgotten craft supplies and children’s drawings, a short haired woman sporting various hairclips and a very colourful attire grinned brightly at him. 

“Of course I do! It’s right here somewhere, just before the scrapbook from our first summer in good ol’ Gravity Falls!” Mabel assured with a perfect smile, standing on her tip toes as she tried to look onto the higher shelves for a certain album or another between countless colourful scrapbooks and photo collections. Bill wouldn’t have known which one it was even with the colourful assemble the girl had insisted was meant for colour-coding but she seemed pretty concentrated as she tried to spot it, occasionally murmuring things about how ‘welp, it’s surely not that one’; ‘this one is from when we got the dog’ or ‘oh, mom and dad’s anniversary! I forgot I had that here’. 

After a few minutes she seemed to be having difficulties finding it from where she was standing and Bill watched as she pouted and retrieved a pink stool, covered in stickers of various cartoons, to get a better look at all of the photo albums she had gathered and kept religiously over the years. Not that any of the Pines could ever truly be religious for a number of reasons, Demon involvement being one of them, though admittedly the main reason was that now they literally had a Demon in the family. Funny how that worked. Bill was pretty sure that while Sixer would have been more than happy to try making the cipher wheel and exterminate him from this realm – or any realm ever – that was pretty hard to do when one of the symbols of the wheel was the one dating the Demon, all the more when it was his own nephew…triple the difficulty when their souls were bounded together and you got a pretty good level of impossible. 

The whole scenario was a whole new level of impossible when one thought about how it had come to be but it still had happened. You would have thought that after his return the Pines would have known not to deal with him anymore, no deals, no interaction, no summoning, nothing that could put them in danger again…so you could imagine the Demon’s own bafflement when Pine Tree, in his teenage years, had summoned him with the clear intent to make such a deal. Perhaps if it had been any other sort of interaction the Demon wouldn’t have been as surprised, given that it was no real secret that he had been spending some time in the boy’s dreams every so often while bored and waiting for his powers and body to regenerate, but this was a deal. Deals were dangerous and tricky and Bill was known for scheming and always using them to his own advantage. 

Not that he hadn’t been thrilled! 

By the way the boy looked at that point in time he wasn’t willing to back down from it either, nor was it hard for Bill to guess what had happened to push the boy towards this. A little problem with the family…after all, what else could ever push Dipper of all people towards a deal except for that? Bill wasn’t sure what did it exactly, Stanford withholding information from him, Mabel not willing to intervene, Stanley acting like he didn’t believe him when he told him about Bill appearing in his dreams or just a general bitterness when finding out they didn’t trust him enough to keep away from the Demon. Bill wasn’t sure which one was the main factor but, regardless, it seemed as if the boy had decided that if only out of spite for everyone’s reactions after everything he’d done for them, he would make a deal with Bill. 

The deal itself was simple: knowledge in whatever the boy wanted at any time, in whatever amount without any holdbacks or lies in exchange for Dipper binding his soul to Bill’s. It was easy enough and by being bounded together it would keep the Demon from harm, because if they hurt Bill they could also hurt Dipper, while also keeping Dipper’s family safe since the bond went two ways and Dipper had his own hold on the Demon in exchange. It seemed fair enough. After the initial shock seemed to wear off from a number of things for both Dipper and his family (the deal, Bill getting a human form, talking in each other’s mind from time to time, feeling each other’s pain occasionally, Dipper randomly yelling at empty space to ‘Be quiet for five minutes!’ when he was able to see Bill while others couldn’t and so on) things started to slowly settle down. Everything actually went better than expected and somewhere along the way one of the biggest shocks Dipper’s family had gotten came as well. You didn’t tell your family every day that you were dating the murderous nihilistic triangle Demon that tried to bring the apocalypse in the past. Needless to say, it had been an adventure…

So it only made sense Dipper had to get a bit of a shock of his own somewhere down the road. 

He and Bill had probably been officially together for a few good years by the time Dipper started to notice something was wrong with him. He could never place it though, not in the beginning. He and Mabel had gone to study different things and, surprisingly enough, it was Dipper that went to art school while Mabel went to learn how to teach. Since Dipper already got everything he wanted to know from Bill, he had decided to pursue something that had originally been nothing more than a hobby, knowing he had their deal to fall back on for any possible knowledge he might actually need later in life. He and Mabel studied at different colleges and saw each other only occasionally despite the frequent skype calls, but that was alright. They still had a strong relationship between them and Mabel would often tease and give Dipper help in the beginning even if their art styles differed dramatically. However, when they would meet Dipper couldn’t fail to notice things about Mabel, the way her hair grew or when she shortened it, the way the lines of her face became more defined, how she got these smile lines around her mouth…It wasn’t just Mabel either. He noticed how Pacifica’s hands seemed a bit more defined after she took up learning piano, how she complained about aging creams and make-up, he noticed how his grunkles were getting a few more grey hairs or how Stan would randomly complain about a pain or another. 

He noticed how the ‘My, how you’ve grown!’ was never again addressed to him, even if unconsciously.

He probably realized it before anyone in his family did, and when he did he ran to talk to Bill at the soonest occasion. In retrospect perhaps he should have waited for his family not to be there, perhaps he should have waited for them all to be outside and carving pumpkins that one Halloween, perhaps he should have waited till he was calmer, but his temper got the best of him. Dipper had pulled at their bound a bit too forcefully that time and he could see the Demon was a bit concerned, even surprised, by the action when he appeared but Bill hadn’t been given a chance to even speak before Dipper had shot the question at him. 

The deal seemed fair…but no deal was ever quite so simple with Bill, was it?

Yes, Dipper had agreed to binding his soul to Bill’s and had known most of the implications from it as well, but at the time he hadn’t bothered to ask any more after the ‘Oh, you know how it goes kid! We each feel some pain if the other does, you let me into your mind, I let you get whatever knowledge you want, you’re able to see me outside the mindscape and all that jazz!’, nothing more. Dipper should have known there was something more to it from the start but hadn’t noticed until years later when looking through some of Mabel’s photo albums that he was the only one who hadn’t changed one bit physically since he was 18 years of age, except for perhaps the occasional haircut which wasn’t that much of a change in truth. It wasn’t as if Bill was about to apologize either – ‘You should have known what you were getting yourself into, kid!’ – and he wasn’t about to break the deal or change it either. He had seen an opportunity to keep his favourite fleshbag at the time alive and he had taken it…and, frankly, he was glad he had and made no attempt to hide that even if that in itself had caused Dipper to be mad at him for more than a month and a half – soul bound be damned. In the end they had made up since it was no use staying mad at the one you were going to spend eternity with, all the more when you were actually starting to get along.

There was no choice in the end but to come to terms to it. Dipper hadn’t taken it too well though, he still got mad at Bill and sometimes used that against him whenever they got into fights, since that argument alone brought a lot of rancour to his tone – you would have thought he’d be happy about immortality! – other times he would get almost depressive over his thoughts but slowly he did seem to get used to the idea, just as every other Pines did. Mabel had definitely been the most supportive even if it came with teasing remarks and a lot of ‘little Dipper’ jokes. Seeing how Dipper would not be able to quite live in the same place for a long while without having to move, the boy had decided to stop after his first degree – it wasn’t as if he really needed more when Bill could teach him everything and anything – and just study whatever he felt like on his own, which mostly involved the supernatural. 

In a way it was a good thing that Gravity Falls had always been so weird and that the boy had made a name for himself there because however locked up the matter of his deal with Bill might have been at first, it became pretty well-known not long after. Some took to it with fear, while others thought it a good thing as it would keep Bill in check from harming them. Overall, they had found out about the ‘aftereffect’ as well and despite not aging no one thought much about it anymore, they didn’t mention it most of the time. All in all, Bill and him had gotten themselves a nice little place deep in the forest and often went to Gravity Falls for visits and family reunions – the twins insisted Bill had to come as well. Compared to Dipper, Mabel had decided to pursue her career as a school teacher and seemed more than happy to be sharing a house with Pacifica somewhere in the middle of a busy town. Every so often her brother and his Demonic boyfriend would drop by for quality time. 

Now was one of those times. 

It was snowing outside, but Bill and Mabel were cosily inside her decorated living room, filled with art supplies, couches and a tv not that far away, a lot of shelves decorating the walls – it kind of reminded Bill of the mess of books his little Pine Tree had back at their own home. Dipper was originally supposed to come as well but by the looks of it Mabel had missed some kind of bet the two had placed for that month when she had invited them over, because her brother was either somewhere outside searching for a code Bill had left around or in the hotel room trying to figure the cipher out. It wasn’t like she knew what the bet implied but she knew her brother couldn’t be swayed when he got like that. Dipper did promise to come by a bit later though and, despite how it may have first been, Mabel found she enjoyed spending some time with Bill – just as long as it wasn’t in excessive amounts. 

“Aha!” The 32 years old woman said victoriously, jumping off of the small stool with an old baby blue album in her hands. Bill turned his gaze back towards her from where he was looking at some of the – horribly bad – children’s drawings she had collected (Pine Tree had been spoiling him with good art for far too long). 

“Found it, Shooting Star?” 

“Yes!” The girl declared happily, making her way over and sitting down on the fluffy carpet next to the blond. Her light pink sweater with stars on it almost matched the carpet and was coupled with pyjama pants, perfect for a lazy day, as she opened up the album and started moving through pages and pages showing her and Dipper as children. Originally they had intended on looking for that Lamby Lamby dance picture of Dipper – no one could deny he looked adorable in it, which consequently made both Bill and Mabel want to tease the living daylights out of the boy – but in the end they caught themselves looking through a bit more of the album showing off Pine Tree and Shooting Star as children. Most pictures were with their family or of important moments, so Bill could only assume most of them were before Mabel had gotten her hands on a camera and started taking all sorts of pictures. 

The Demon also noted a few other things while Mabel flipped through the pictures and told her about them, even if he had definitely seen some of the pictures before. Dipper was wearing a different cap in these pictures – one with a star that Bill thought didn’t really fit him – and he seemed a bit shy in his smiles, the type of embarrassed shy that usually made Bill worry about him. The Demon much preferred the genuine laughter and smiles that he could pull from him rather than most of the ones he had in old pictures where he looked as if he didn’t really want to be there. They were around the end of the album when Bill noticed a picture that was a bit blurry on the sides, where Dipper looked especially glum, holding something pink half hidden behind his back and looking as if he wanted to hide underneath his cap with his tearstained cheeks. The picture wasn’t a really good one either and the smile seemed a bit forced…

“What happened in this one, Shooting Star?” Bill asked, leaning a bit against the girl and looking far too curious for his own good as he tried to get a closer look. Mabel didn’t move though, she was used to how touchy and weird Bill could get by now and had more than enough patience after having to constantly deal with children with art supplies at their disposal – it was a war zone, especially with glitter. She looked towards the picture in question, needing a short moment before her eyes lit up with recognition. 

“Oh, that was on Valentine’s Day!” she explained, nodding once she had had a better look at the picture. “I really wasn’t good at taking pictures back then.” She murmured, rubbing her chin thoughtfully in a bit of an exaggerated manner, as if observing a piece of art critically.

“That stupid heart filled celebration on the 14th of February?” Yep, that was definitely the one, even if Bill himself didn’t take to celebrating human traditions most of the time. He did know about them though! He knew about Christmas and Sumerween, about Halloween and Thanksgiving, Bill knew lots of stuff! He just never quite bothered with all of those celebrations unless Dipper dragged him to them. “Aren’t you supposed to look happy if you get those stupid things?” he prompted, pointing to the pink Valentine card – cards? Gift? – Dipper seemed to be trying to hide behind his back in the picture. Bill would have assumed it was a card or a gift from how it looked but the picture was blurry on that side and he couldn’t quite make out what it was exactly even if he could tell by the horrible amount of pink on it that it was a Valentine’s Day thing. Humans were happy when receiving those and while Bill would have been jealous enough to hate anyone who brought Dipper that kind of romantic happiness except for him (child or not) he almost thought it just might have been better than seeing that sort of tearstained and unhappy expression on Dipper’s face.

The girl shrugged, trying to be a bit dismissive in the gesture if only to calm some of the protectiveness she could hear in the Demon’s voice. Bill was pretty protective – and damn possessive – of Dipper so it was best to keep the evil murderous triangle away when matters about his loved one came up in a bad light, at the very least till they were resolved and they knew they could calm him down. “Well, yeah, but Dipper didn’t get any Valentine’s that day. See that pink thing? I stuck all of my Valentine cards together to make him something from them since he was feeling down. He felt a bit better but it’s not really the same as actually receiving a Valentine’s card.” Mabel explained, feeling just a bit sympathetic for the small sad child in the picture even after all this time. Dipper had not deserved that kind of treatment and it had been her fault too in a way since she hadn’t been able to contain her excitement and had brought Valentine’s up in front of others where they could then tease him. Dipper never quite saw it that way though, but Dipper was always kind towards her, trying to act older than his age and keep her safe whatever the circumstances. 

“As a matter of fact, Dipper wasn’t really uh, that popular. Neither of us were all that liked when we were little actually, but I still got Valentine’s cards. I can’t really recall Dipper ever getting them so whenever Valentine’s came around he was pretty bummed out.” Who wouldn’t be when the whole school was covered in hearts and pink and you were the only one not to receive a Valentine? Sometimes the kids played some cruel jokes with them as well but she decided that bringing those up wouldn’t be a good idea. And if the way the Demon was looking at the picture with an intensity that could have burned through it, this was her queue to change the subject. She gave him a playful nudge to bring him out of it, a bright smile on her lips as she tried to lighten up the atmosphere of the cosy room 

“Now, I know it’s hard to believe we were absolute losers after what we did to you when we were twelve but if it makes you feel any better, we were more liked in high school! I mean, things were pretty much the same with Valentine’s but at least the bullying stopped!” Which at least meant no mean or fake Valentine’s or gum in either twin’s hair and while the teasing remarks about Dipper’s birthmark never quite stopped they at least seemed to diminish some once someone tried picking on them and Dipper instinctively – by then Mabel believed him with their trips to Gravity Falls and dealing with the supernatural – hit the person with a left hook. Valentine’s was still a big thing as a teenager though, even more so than when you were little, and while Dipper tried to act as if he didn’t care, his sister could tell that he still got pretty disappointed when he didn’t receive anything during the commercial holiday of love. “Plus, I’m sure you two lovebirds make each other plenty happy on Valentine’s Day! Exchanging cards and gifts and everything! You’ve been together for years now after all.” Yep, that certainly was a way to change the conversation in the right direction! After all, theoretically Bill and Dipper were kind of Demon married through this whole soul bound thing.

And yes, they certainly had been together for years, fourteen whole years since their deal.

“We don’t.”

The answer came so easily and so sincerely, so lightly that for a moment Mabel didn’t even figure out the words and when she did she turned to look at Bill as if he had brought back the Weirdapocalypse, only ten times worse and with flying flesh-eating ponies. “What!?” Any other time the word would have come out as a yell of astonishment, but the shock must have been too grand for it came out as a simple inquiry, it was almost mellow despite the girl’s big brown eyes looking as if they were about to jump out of their sockets.

The Demon straightening from where he had been leaning a bit against her as they looked through the album. “We don’t.” he repeated with an almost casual shrug. The girl didn’t reply for a moment, just staring at him so Bill took it as a prompting to continue, at the very least because that silence made his human stomach do very unpleasant flip-flops for some reason. “I’m a Demon, we don’t celebrate human festivities, Shooting Star. The only reason I come along for Christmas, Sumerween, Halloween and so on is because they’re more like family gatherings for you Pines – which both you and Pine Tree insist I need to be present for – but except for that and your birthday, Pine Tree knows I don’t celebrate anything else so he doesn’t really bring them up. They’re just not important.” After all, he was literally a creature from another dimension who had no regard for most human Gods and concepts and thought most of their celebrations silly and weird – albeit some were fun. “Though we did go to this nice festival in the second dimension over just la-“

That was all the Demon got out before Mabel finally gathered her wits about her to speak. “You what!?” This time it was a definite yell, a screech that would have very much woken up Pacifica in an alarm if the girl wasn’t out on some errand or another of her own. 

Bill blinked, getting the feeling that he had just dug himself a hole for dying from the way Mabel was looking at him. He wasn’t sure what exactly brought this on but he was starting to get an idea… “Went to a festival in the second dimension over?” he offered, but that was clearly not the answer Mabel wanted from the way she looked at him as if she was about to fry him in the deepest pits of hell, make him into little pieces, fry him again and serve him on a silver platter to Sixer.

“Not that, you doofus! The Valentine’s thing!” She cleared up, voice still fairly shrill and album clutched to her chest in horrification as she looked at the blond Demon as if he had committed one of the greatest crimes of all, which he had in her eyes. “You mean to tell me you two have been together for thirteen years,”

“Fourteen.” Bill corrected, which was not, by any means, helping his case if Mabel’s crescendo was anything to go by.

“You mean to tell me you’ve been dating my brother for fourteen years and have never once celebrated Valentine’s together?” 

There was a minimal pause as if Bill was debating if that was an actual question or not because it seemed pretty rhetorical to him…“Kinda?” he finally answered, seeing as Mabel was still waiting on him to speak. 

It was most definitely the wrong answer.

The next thing Bill knew the brown haired girl was all but whacking him with the colourful album, seeming to have absolutely no hold backs with her strength as the heavy object met Bill’s head, causing him to wince at the sudden pain. “You complete failure of a tri-dimensional pyramid wannabe! How could you? It’s Valentine’s day!” Had the house not been somewhere near the middle of the damn metropolis of a town with streets not that far off, Bill was sure Mabel could have been heard from the next town over. Hell, he felt as if he was going to go deaf. “You’re literally Demon married! Married, Bill, do you hear me!? Husbands! Lovers! You’re in a relationship!” she proceeded to try smacking him with the album again by the middle of that but since the Demon snatched the album away from her before she could, she did her best by grabbing a nearby pillow and hitting him with that for each word her last sentence held and a couple more for good measure. 

“Shooting St-for hell’s sake knock it off!” The Demon all but growled and red energy engulfed the pillow and it was thrown to the other side of the room, against a few random books that had been piled up neatly for Mabel’s classes, effectively making them collapse. “I know that! But Demons don’t celebrate your stupid cheap chocolate holiday.” Really, was it that hard to understand? Dipper had gotten it from the very start when he had told him! Literally, the kid had asked him if he celebrated anything like that as a Demon and Bill had told him that no, he didn’t…and he might have also proceeded to make a bit fun of it but that didn’t really count, did it? After all, Valentine’s was hilarious with how petty humans could be about chocolates and cards and all these stupid ‘affectionate’ gestures. He couldn’t quite remember Dipper bringing it up after that little conversation actually. 

Mabel, to her credit, liked Bill as a family member by this point, she did, but right then she would have been willing to join Ford in expelling him back to his original dimension and watching him burn. You didn’t skip Valentine’s Day! And she wasn’t so vehement in that just because she was a love expert but also because this was her brother that they were talking about! Mabel might have been a romantic and adored love with all her heart, she might have been the one who was more open about all the lovey dovey stuff, but anyone that knew the twins well enough knew that Dipper was pretty much the same, he was just more subtle about it. Sure, Dipper didn’t wear hearts on his clothes or bothered with buying all sorts of Valentine’s stuff but he and Mabel both had a natural inclination towards romance novels and movies and it wasn’t unusual for him to get a bit shy when Bill did something romantic for him. If anything, the Demon thought it adorably cute, but Valentine’s had definitely not been something to cross his mind and as far as Mabel was concerned, that was pure blasphemy. 

“You don’t, but Dip Dop does! And guess what? You’re married to a hopeless romantic! You should know this!” The girl said in pure exasperation and looked just about ready to fling the next corporeal object at him. 

The Demon scoffed. “I know that!” He retorted only to get smacked with the next fluffy pillow Mabel got her hands on. He glared at her for it. He had been with Dipper for fourteen years, of course he’d know that! It wasn’t as if he was oblivious to the romance movies littered about in their own neat pile near the horror and adventure ones or the random documentaries Dipper decided to collect, it wasn’t as if he didn’t notice the novels the boy collected along with the sci-fi ones and old scriptures. And, most importantly, it wasn’t as if Bill had been together with Dipper for so long without knowing exactly what to do or what to get as to see him melt for him. 

“Apparently, you don’t!” she retaliated, moving the pillow out of the way before Bill could snatch it away from her, fire in her eyes as she glared at the Demon, photo album completely forgotten by this point.

“I do, stop with the smacking already! It’s not like we don’t do romantic things together, we just don’t celebrate Valentine’s! It’s not something I care for and ‘Dip Dop’ never brought it up as wanting to celebrate it.” Dipper actually seemed to leave the subject dead after Bill had told him he didn’t celebrate it, so what was this all about anyway? Kid seemed perfectly fine without a stupid pink holiday card. “Plus, with all of the stupid emotions over this nonsensical holiday that’s one of the best times to go around the mindscape.” It was the best time for nightmares and chaos pertaining to love after all…

Those words seemed good enough to stop Mabel for a brief moment. “You mean to say you’re usually not home on the 14th of February?” She asked slowly, as if trying to process this information and not willing to believe it. Then again, Bill was a Demon and most human things did go by him sometimes when he didn’t care for them. Mabel could usually accept that, but this was a completely different matter.

Bill shrugged. “Not really? I don’t think so, I don’t always stay in my vessel and me and Pine Tree don’t always stay together so it’s not that abnormal. But now that you mention it I don’t think I ever stayed around on the 14th. Pine Tree usually goes to help Soos around the Shack that day or has other plans from what I know.”

If Bill regretted his earlier words towards the girl he was about to all but swallow them whole now because the next thing he knew Mabel was all but pining him down and hitting him with a pillow relentlessly. Shooting Star had always been quite the fighter. “Oh my God! You 180 degrees of romantic failure what were you thinking!? Actually, don’t answer that, you weren’t thinking! Valentine’s day is meant to be celebrated together you’re not supposed to be away, you’re supposed to spoil your lover and spend the day together! You’re not supposed to let him work or spend it alone! Dipper loves mushy stuff! Valentine’s day is literally the perfect opportunity for that and you missed it for fourteen years, I cannot believe you! Oh my glittering pens I should have let grunkle Ford knock you off the spiritual plane!” And frankly, the girl would have been able to go on a continuous rant right then if they didn’t hear the door ring. Both stopped short for a moment, turning to look towards the living room door as if that would tell them who it was, but it only revealed an empty hall as they both fell into silence. Bill took the small break as his chance to grab the pillow from Mabel and try to pull it away, which didn’t really work as the girl had a vice grip on it. In the end neither even tried to get up to answer the door, instead seeming to be fighting over the pillow. 

The guest must have also gotten a bit impatient as a series of clicks followed as keys were placed in and turned about to unlock the door. Finally, the familiar loud click of the door opening and closing was heard along with quiet footsteps. A moment after, an almost lanky figure dressed in a warm jacket with a scarf around his neck appeared in the doorway of the living room, bearing the fresh smell of cold. There was a bit of snow hanging from his form and decorating his tussled hair as he removed his hat, stopping short at the scene in front of him. Not that he hadn’t seen stranger things in his lifetime by then but it was still a bit baffling to enter a room and find your lover being pinned down by your sister who looked about to knock him dead in a pillow fight and then into the next dimension – not in a good way either, mind you.

“Hello there, Dippin’ Dots!” Mabel greeted good-naturedly, waving since Bill had finally stopped pulling on the pillow once Dipper had entered the room. 

Dipper blinked, took in the scene once again and then looked at where Bill was with his back on the floor, scowling towards the female twin’s suddenly bright disposition. 

“I literally left you alone for perhaps an hour, what did you do? Last time I checked your record for not wanting to make yourselves murder each other was about a week!” He shot, receiving an eye roll from Bill who didn’t quite seem willing to answer. Mabel must have caught him rolling his eyes and not have liked that because she whacked him with the pillow again before Bill caught it and threw it somewhere in a corner of the room in aggravation. 

Seriously, the girl needed to cut it off!

“Oh nothing, Dip Dop. I was just educating Bill on human customs.” 

Dipper raised an eyebrow, not quite sure he was willing to buy that. That was literally something he had been doing for years now so he wasn’t quite sure what the hell Mabel was ‘educating’ Bill on. He had the feeling it couldn’t be something good either.

“Actually, we were just in the middle of a lesson so how about you go outside and come back later?” The girl proposed, suddenly preppy as she got up and started towards her brother, speaking as if she was talking to one of the little children in her class.

“What?” Bill asked incredulously as soon as the words left the girl, watching as she got off of him and went to grab her brother by the shoulders, starting to push him out of the living room and towards the entrance. The image would have been a bit startling to most people at this point. The two couldn’t even pass by as twins anymore, not with Dipper looking eighteen years of age while Mabel looked just a bit younger than her actual age, thirty-two. They still looked very much alike but rather than twins they looked like siblings when placed one next to one another. Despite having been turned when he was a teenager, Dipper was still taller than Mabel but it wasn’t as if that was going to derail the girl from expressly pushing her little brother out the door. 

“Mabes, I just got here!” Dipper pointed out, slightly scandalized, but to no avail. Mabel was already pushing him towards the door despite his best efforts not to be moved, only stopping briefly to turn him around and put his hat back in place. It was around then that Pacifica also seemed to return from whatever errands she had been running as the door opened and Mabel’s eyes lit up. The blonde heiress seemed just about to greet them when Mabel took her bags from her without a warning, gave her a short kiss and turned her around as well. 

“Great timing, Paz! How about you two go spend some quality time together, huh? Me and Bill have a lot to discuss!” Mabel’s twin and wife both seemed to want to interject but neither got the chance as they were pushed out of the door and back into the cold weather outside. “Have a nice day! Don’t hurry back!” The door closed and locked, leaving Dipper and Pacifica to look at the door just a bit awestruck as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Well, if there was one thing they knew it was that when Mabel got like that there was nothing stopping her so there was no way either of them were getting back into the house till what was likely to be evening. 

They decided hot chocolate and cake sounded pretty good right then.

As for Mabel, she still had a Dream Demon she had to educate on human love customs before her utter aggravation with him really made her want to throw him in the next few realms over.


	2. Love Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usually letters from Bill aren't quite a good thing, if anything they're always a surprise. The letters Dipper starts getting are certainly a surprise, just not in the usual way and he couldn't be happier about them.

“Melody, do you know where Soos put the molecular gun great uncle Ford left for emergencies?” 

The woman, clad in a question mark T-shirt with her long curly hair in a low ponytail and a brown cap on her head, turned around from where she had been dusting the shelves around the Mystery Shack so she could gaze upon her new visitor. Even before looking over she knew by the voice and the – fairly odd – request who it was, so a smile played on her lips as her eyes settled on the boy wearing a Pine Tree cap not all that different from the ones on the shelves nearby. “Dipper, glad to see you could make it!” She greeted, her dimples made more obvious as she smiled towards him and placed the duster somewhere nearby. 

The brunet smiled back, albeit a bit embarrassed for his lack of greeting, a hand nervously going through his hair as he looked at the pleasant woman. Being one of the original ‘members’ of the Mystery Shack he often treated it as his home and the people there as his extended family and they did the same for him, so greetings were sometimes easily gone over or overlooked – or in his case, forgotten while preoccupied. He had just gotten used to the Mystery Shack as his second home, so much that sometimes he forgot greeting people was a thing. On the other hand he was also sure that Bill had something to do with it as well since compared to other normal people and beings, his life-partner preferred randomly appearing and taking a conversation out of nowhere as if he had never been gone to the mindscape or who knows where else (probably torturing the souls of the innocent), just diving into something about space-matter theory, animals from another dimension or why bunnies in this dimension weren’t poisonous – where had he even gotten that thought was beyond Dipper. 

With time he had gotten used to the Demon’s random conversations and often changing moods though, they kept him on his feet if nothing else and he found some food for thought in most. That was not to say that Dipper didn’t have a lot of other things keeping him on his feet, on the contrary really. Gravity Falls might have been small but it was still bustling with paranormal activity and with the years Dipper had come to go from studying most creatures to befriending quite a few as well, as exceedingly weird as some could be, even if in retrospect no one matched Bill’s level of weird. Never would he have thought that with Mabel’s absence he’d be the one to have to stay through some of the gnome’s rants about not finding a Queen and then having to give ‘love advice’ of all things – Bill hadn’t been able to stop laughing for a few hours straight when he found out. 

Still, while some creatures might have been friendly, there were a lot which were, or could be, malicious as well. Dipper was used to them. He was the one people usually came to for such things after all and he did have the resources to take care of them. It was almost easy with Bill telling him what he needed to know and having some of Ford’s weapons along with the magical objects he had collected himself for such situations (enchanted gems and crystals were quite useful)…and he might not like to admit it, if only because it fed Bill’s ego a bit too much, but the Demon did often bring him enchanted gifts to keep him safe or that he could use if he was in trouble, even if Bill himself was quite protective in the ‘I will turn them inside out and incinerate them if they touch one curl on your pretty little head, Pine Tree’ sense. He appreciated the Demon’s worry but more often than not he wanted to do things on his own which more so fuelled Bill’s anger whenever he got hurt, even if, somehow, he managed to respect Dipper’s space enough as to not intervene unless necessary. 

The boy could take care of himself.

“Hmm, I think we put it somewhere in the storage room. Let me have a look!” Melody said pleasantly after a moment of thought, proceeding to head out of the main hall of the Shack with the knowledge that Dipper would manage just fine on his own if someone came in and needed help. He still came over often and helped them around every once in a while after all. Plus, with the snowy weather outside it was unlikely for there to be too many visitors. The Shack still got visitors in winter, especially in February with all of the little extras the couple put in for the upcoming holiday of love, but the snow was big enough today that Melody doubted there’d be any people.

Dipper nodded gratefully and gave her a pleasant smile as she made her way towards the back. “Thank you, Melody!” he called after her, hearing a distant response of ‘you’re welcome’. Dipper liked her, she and Soos made a wonderful couple and she had instantly taken to Dipper and Mabel when they had come visiting again in the summer, she had also been very supportive of Soos and a sweetheart even with all the oddities in Gravity Falls. Taking off his coat and placing it aside along with his scarf, Dipper made his way behind the familiar counter of the Mystery Shack, noting that despite the new furniture it still looked a lot like the one before it. Stan had passed the Mystery Shack on to Soos a long while ago, making him the new Mr. Mystery, and while Dipper always hated being dragged into chores and helping around as a child, he did have a certain attachment to the place where his supernatural adventures had first started. He certainly remembered dreading having to sweep the floors or help around when he was a child, much more preferring to go about the forest and search for the next thing he could find from his great uncle’s journals – and likely the next thing to put him in a near death situation when looking back at it. Those feelings hadn’t changed too much over the years and with time he decided he liked coming to the Mystery Shack, actually not minding helping around since there was no actual sense of needing to do something but more so a want to help around. There was a sense of nostalgia and warmth to the place that he liked, plus it was a good place to spend time with old friends like Soos’s family.

More often than not Dipper came to visit Soos and Melody, but he also expected other inhabitants of Gravity Falls to come around every once in a while and with the time of the year he was pretty sure Wendy might make an appearance! She always made some time to come over in February and see them and they had received a notice from her somewhere around the middle of January so Dipper wouldn’t have been surprised to see her walk through the door any moment now. The Mystery Shack hadn’t changed all that much after Stan had left but Soos had soon enough added his own touch to things as well. He still kept most of the attractions but also added new merchandise, some things of his own making and a statue of grunkle Stan which more often than not scared the children. All in all, it was all working pretty great for him and his family. By this point most people knew very well about Dipper’s deal with Bill so they tried to play things off naturally whenever they saw him helping around – which often happened if he had nothing to do, needed a lazy day or some time away from Bill’s craziness – but Dipper often saw how they looked at him in slight astonishment at not having changed even a bit since the last time they saw him. Some didn’t even try to hide it really (Robbie) which could be amusing at this point now that Dipper himself had come to terms with it (it was a bit hard not to when you had a dream Demon continuously showering you with compliments even if that didn’t take away from the gravity of the situation). 

Right now February had just begun so Dipper expected that with the upcoming Valentine’s day things would get a bit more busy seeing as Soos and Melody had planned a little party for the occasion and were already working on the decorations. The happy couple had also come to expect Dipper around during this period even if they had been a bit sceptic about the whole thing at first. It was February and Valentine’s was coming up, so shouldn’t he be spending it with Bill? Not that they didn’t love having Dipper around, nor did they ever completely approve of the Demon who almost killed them all, but the creature clearly had a soft spot for Dipper and Valentine’s was about cherishing the ones you loved, right? Dipper couldn’t even recall at this point just how many times he had had to explain that Bill, as a Demon, did not celebrate human customs and that the only reason he joined them for the others was because they were family celebrations for the Pines so both him and Mabel all but dragged him to them. 

Dipper himself had long since gotten used to the idea, or at least accepted it, because he had asked Bill about it before so he knew what he was getting into when he decided on being with the Demon (even if one couldn’t ever know all the details when it came to Bill Cipher). In truth, he still got a bit sad on Valentine’s day when seeing all the couples frolicking around with each other and sharing heart shaped gifts in obnoxious shades of red and pink, but he wouldn’t admit to it for the life of him, he didn’t want to worry his friends and he did not want to pull Bill into a celebration he did not like or want to participate in. The Demon also sounded a bit condescending over the whole thing from what he could remember so Dipper had decided not to push it. Plus, surely him being bummed out wasn’t because of Bill, the Demon was always giving him his attention and showering him in random gifts – albeit some were questionable – it was more so because he just couldn’t help but think it a shame that in all of his thirty-two years he hadn’t been able to have a ‘successful’ Valentine’s day. 

It took a while more than Dipper would have thought it would, but Melody finally returned back with a metal case, placing it on the counter. It seemed a bit heavy but she managed just fine. “What monster are you going after today, Dipper?” she asked good naturedly, figuring that if the boy asked for the emergency weapon then it must have been something either pretty big or pretty dangerous, neither option sounded safe. Maybe it was just because Dipper was friends with most or had faced the end of the world together with them, but most people from the Mystery Shack and in Gravity Falls often worried for him even if they knew he was perfectly safe going after the supernatural – after all, he had an inter-dimensional Demon who was not willing to let a single hair on Dipper’s head get singed and which he had helped destroy once before.

“Thanks for finding it for me.” Dipper said gratefully, looking over where the case opened and starting to fiddle with the safety measures there even as he continued talking. Despite the case, Ford was never one for too much safety so the locks weren’t hard to undo. “It’s not a monster per say, uh, I don’t know what it is yet.” Dipper admitted, brows furrowing a bit at the thought. No, he definitely didn’t know what it was yet but he was pretty sure having the weapon there was a good idea. Finally, the case clicked open and Dipper grinned victoriously as he looked at the slightly open top. Leaving it as it was for now, he started searching through his messenger bag. “I actually have the thing I might need it for with me.” He told her and continued searching through his messenger bag for a bit before getting annoyed…he might have needed to stop making such a clutter out of it. Clicking his tongue, he placed it on the counter as well, opening it wide so he could search for the object. “Where is it?” he lamented under his breath, continuing to rummage. 

The bell clinked and the door opened for a moment, letting in the chill. “Hey there!” Dipper recognized Wendy’s voice but didn’t look up as he continued his search. 

“Hello, Wendy.” He greeted and stopped for a moment to give her a smile before returning to his bag, muttering something under his breath. 

The redhead walked over, taking off her coat as well and exchanging a few greetings and words with Melody before letting out a low whistle. “Woah, bringing out the big guns? What are you after this time, Dipper?” 

“I don’t know yet.” Dipper told her almost passingly, starting to get pretty irritated with his lack of findings as he took a few things out and laid them out, including a random orb, several crystals, a few weird sacks which people had learnt through various disastrous mistakes not to touch, several agendas and pens – some had bite marks – and a calendar. “Aha!” Finally, the boy brought out something that very much looked like a black piece of paper at first glance.

A letter.

Wendy blinked. “A letter?” she offered, making the boy blush in embarrassment, if only for the tone. 

“It’s from Bill.” He cleared up, holding back a pout, and both women made a sound of understanding. 

“Screaming heads again?” Melody asked sympathetically, shaking her head as she remembered one of their early problems with the Demon. 

“I hope it’s not some basilisk, the damage from that was horrible.” Wendy said, shuddering at the thought. 

Dipper shrugged in response. He was kind of used to random ‘surprises’ from Bill and while some came randomly or with little warning he still managed just fine. The envelope he was currently holding was black with a brick pattern in gold, a triangle sigil on the front and a ‘To’ followed by a pine tree symbol on the back. It wasn’t hard to make up who it was addressed to. “I don’t know what it is yet, but I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry.” He admitted, also bringing out a small little sword that Wendy took to look at. 

“What’s this?” she asked, turning it around in her hand. 

“A letter opener.” Wendy raised an eyebrow. “I know.” Dipper assured. “He never leaves letters, we have a bond, we don’t need these and he’s already been gone for a whole week – he doesn’t usually go away that early – and he even left a letter opener so, frankly, I don’t trust whatever is inside it.” It wasn’t unusual for Bill to leave every once in a while and return afterwards, Dipper wasn’t about to keep him by his side all the time though they definitely had times where they couldn’t stand to be apart from each other. During February, Bill preferred to go around the mindscape because there were a lot of strange dreams and nightmares which he found pleasant while Dipper occupied his time by spending time at the Shack, going after the supernatural or making trips to new places if he wasn’t too caught up in a new video game or something similar. 

However, while they definitely had times where they did not talk, when they did they had plenty of ways to do it, including telepathy, dreams, the mindscape and face to face. For Bill to leave him a letter, Dipper very much expected some demonic ritual to be inside along with a screaming head or two, perhaps some deer teeth. Plus, this year Bill had left quite early. Usually they’d spend the whole of January together by having snow days and lazy days inside, watch a few new shows, go in a few other dimensions, play some video games, but this time he had told Dipper he was going to be leaving a bit earlier not long after they had visited Mabel. It was a tad weird but Dipper wasn’t going to question him – though he fully intended on holding it against him that he had not stayed enough to finish that last season finale with him. 

Dipper took the small letter opener back from Wendy and placed it and the letter down next to the metal case, quickly pushing everything else he had taken out into his bag before putting it on the ground. He opened the metal case and took out the gun inside to place it near the letter. If something popped out or some demonic seal acted up he was fully intent on shooting it before it caused damage. “Guess I might as well open it.” He decided once everything seemed in order, once again grabbing it and taking the letter opener with his other hand. He carefully pushed it underneath the flap of the letter and almost winced when he heard paper tear, but nothing happened, no weird light, no screaming heads…he continued until it was opened, surprised nothing had happened yet, but still wary. “Well, so far so good.” He mumbled, turning the envelope around for a moment before reaching in and taking out the paper there. Similar to the cover, it was black – high quality from the feel of it – with elegant golden writing that could put his own messy small writing to shame any day. He blinked. “Why the hell did he put the Cipher Wheel on it?” he asked no one in particular as the symbol at the end of it caught his eye, golden like the writing. 

“Well, what does it say?” The redhead asked curiously, moving to stand behind Dipper and drape an arm around his neck casually as she took a look over his shoulder. She stared, then blinked. “Huh? That’s not English.” She stated and Melody came to take a small peek as well. 

By then Dipper’s brows were slightly furrowed as he started reading the – admittedly fairly long – letter. “No, it’s Latin.” He cleared up. “Bill likes Latin, he was a pain about me not knowing it to perfection when he first started visiting me, always using words I didn’t know.” Dipper remembered that quite clearly, he remembered how he had freaked out when Bill appeared in his mind and then continued appearing in his dreams. He remembered the Demon giving him ciphers for ‘fun’ at times and leaving him with random Latin phrases every once in a while. Dipper had answered them with what little he knew of Latin at the time and the Demon had positively lit up. There really wasn’t any escape from the language afterwards and while Dipper did enjoy it himself he did wish Bill wouldn’t have been such a pain about it when teaching it to him, although it had worked. 

“Is it some demonic ritual thing then?” Wendy prompted, if only out of curiosity. She could have tried reading it herself, but frankly Latin was not her forte. Dead languages and languages in general had always been Dipper’s thing while growing up. Plus, by the way the boy was looking at the letter she didn’t really think it was anything good. 

“No, but it’ll get Bill a one road ticket into an exorcism circle if it continues along this line.” There was a bit of spite there and Wendy blinked, wondering just what she was missing. Melody shrugged and went back to dusting around the Mystery Shack from where she had left off. The redhead seemed just about to ask something else when Dipper seemed to be around the middle of the page, his expression changing as he blinked at something in the letter. “Who are you calling a precocious and pretentious brat, you equilateral failure!?” The words were definitely not directed at anyone in the room as Dipper instantly turned his gaze towards the triangle patterned rug in the room, but they still caught the two girls by surprise. By then they really shouldn’t have because sometimes Bill was being so loud that Dipper literally had to scream at him normally to get him to shut up in his head – which didn’t really have much of an effect. This was another kind of communication though. Bill could see through his shapes so Dipper was, of course, sending his own response to the letter back as he read it. From what it seemed like, Bill was walking on thin ice. “And what do you mean noodle ar-I swear to God I will block you out with unicorn hair. Did you forget this brat defeated you when he was twelve?” 

Yep, very thin ice…

“So it’s not a love letter then.” Wendy offered jokingly, hoping to ease some of the tension from Dipper. In the beginning Dipper would get quite flustered if he had such an outburst in front of her or others because he knew they couldn’t see Bill sometimes and did not understand how their communication went but by now he had just taken it for granted…especially when he was annoyed at said triangle. 

The brunet scoffed. “Of course not. Why would it be a love letter?” he pushed in a dry tone, sighing in exasperation as he brought the letter back up to read through the rest. Unicorn hair. Yes. He was getting unicorn hair. He couldn’t make Bill sleep on the couch like humans sometimes did when their partners annoyed them but he could very well block him from the whole house if he tried hard enough. 

“Well, Valentine’s is coming up.” Wendy offered helpfully, shrugging and taking the letter opener Dipper had left on the desk to fidget with. 

“Bill doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.” Dipper recited without having to think it over twice, fingertips ghosting over the golden writing as he tried to find the line he had left off at. 

“Maybe he made an exception?” she tried again, shrugging nonchalantly. She always had this cool aura about her, Wendy had always been cool and still remained so. The conversation was light to her but, frankly, Dipper found the conversation topic used and a bit annoying by this point. 

“He doesn’t do human celebrations, Wendy.” Dipper explained again, feeling like it was the thousandth time, which it might have as well been by then. 

“He does Christmas and Halloween with you though!” She pointed out, sticking the sharp point of the small sword at him. Dipper couldn’t help but smile a little at her antics. 

“Yes, but that’s purely because me and Mabel drag him to them and because he somehow always finds it funny to decorate me instead of the Christmas Tree. Plus, it’s not even the 14th, it’s the 1st of February.” He pointed out practically, earning a shrug. 

“Maybe it’s a countdown? Or he forgot the date?” By the way Dipper scoffed at the idea, she supposed not. She decided to let the boy continue reading his letter, it wasn’t as if she’d understand what was in it anyhow. 

And in truth, most people wouldn’t have understood, not only because of the language barrier but because there were definitely some details in there that were only known to Dipper. The letter started out by recounting what Dipper found to be a first impression of himself – which frankly made him want to dismember the damn triangle, who was he calling ‘sweaty, awkward, preteen with a pretentious attitude’!? Had that triangle looked in the mirror in the last time? – and went on with a few more unpleasant memories of their first deal, that one time they saved Stan’s mindscape and when they defeated Bill by tricking him. None of those memories were pleasant and while Dipper did insist that Bill did not lie to him, it hurt just a little for him to know from the letter that Bill hadn’t thought too much of him at that point in time till later when he realized that Dipper was indeed messing up a lot of his plans. It was logical and being called a pain in the side was also logical given what Bill was saying in the letter, but now that he was with Bill in a romantic relationship it did make him deflate a little despite all of his threats to block Bill out of the house on the basis of bitterness alone. It wasn’t like the triangle Demon wasn’t being a bit too brutally honest with some of his words. 

The letter was long, there were a few pages actually so Dipper soon moved onto the second. After how the first had gone he was a bit surprised to find that the second started speaking about when they only used to meet in Dipper’s dreams. From the looks of it Bill was going chronologically through their relationship though Dipper couldn’t tell why he would do that. He blinked and his expression softened a bit as he noticed a few inside jokes, the way Bill described some of their meetings, the way he described how he started noticing little quirks Dipper had…By the end of a single paragraph of that he was already pretty engrossed in his reading so he didn’t notice when Wendy seemed to ask him something, instead pushing onto reading the rest…the letter did go chronologically so next was their second deal and while Dipper always held the immortality bit he had not known about against Bill, the way Bill seemed so happy about the whole thing in the letter did make his own chest swell with warmth. It went on with little bits from their relationship, just briefly mentioning his family, mostly to emphasize that the Demon was glad Dipper hadn’t let that ever really dampen their relationship once it was established and the brunet couldn’t help but notice how from all of the little insults in the first page it melted into compliments and sweet teasing remarks by the end. 

The end of the letter held a phrase Dipper never got bored of hearing from the Demon.

‘I love you, Pine Tree.’

He must have looked a bit dazed because Wendy decided to move her hand in front of his face, and had to do so several times before getting any sort of reaction. “Hey, dude? You alright?” 

Dipper blinked. He needed a moment to realize Wendy was addressing him after having been rereading the last part of the letter for what could have possibly been a few minutes or a few hours as far as he could tell. He nodded, slowly, as if unsure if he was in reality or dreaming right then. “Yeah, uh,” The boy seemed to need a moment to find his words, which was plenty unusual for him. “I think I need to head home.” He decided and while the decision itself was sudden, he sounded surprisingly calm while saying it. Wendy was about to interrupt on the basis that the snow was pretty deep and the weather not that good but Dipper had already gotten his coat and bag and was opening the door. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” 

He needed to talk to Bill.

It was a love letter…

However, Bill wasn’t home. He wasn’t home and was unlikely to be home for a while from what Dipper could tell. He tried pulling on their bond and contacting him through it but he was given no answer. Any other time he would have been frustrated, but he just couldn’t find those kinds of emotions right then, not when he had the letter in his hands with all those sweet little compliments and silly quips, not when that last ‘I love you, Pine Tree’ was finished with the elegant signature of his partner’s name in thick golden ink. 

He may have been just a bit too love struck that day to do anything.

***** 

The next morning Bill still wasn’t back and the brunet woke up to the alarm he had set for the day. Usually he would have gotten up and gone about his morning routine since he had plans to go spend some time at the Shack that day but he decided to give himself a few minutes – or rather about an hour or more – to just laze around in bed with the music from his iPod in the background and the letter from Bill in his hand. After rereading the pieces of paper and feeling the ink underneath his fingertips all of yesterday he had finally gone to bed and placed the letter securely on the bedstand where he could reach for it easily once he woke up. It was only when the second alarm he had set up rang that he decided that perhaps it was about time he got up from the pile of pillows and covers that Bill and him had claimed as their bed. 

He got through his morning routine well enough and through breakfast while watching some random TV show or another, then got dressed and ready for the day. Making sure he hadn’t forgotten anything before leaving, Dipper decided he was ready to go. He was just about to push the handle of the door as well when something caught his eye on the small table in the living room. Furrowing his brows in curiosity, he abandoned the front door and headed for the living room, looking around warily at first before his eyes landed on the small table near the couch. 

It was the same place he had found the letter from yesterday

And there was another letter. 

For a moment Dipper wasn’t sure his eyes were seeing right and he had to rub at them to make sure, but there was definitely a letter there. At first he thought something was playing tricks on him and had moved his original letter from Bill, but this one looked different. Taking off the gloves he had put on, Dipper carefully took the letter from where it was laid down, noting that it looked different. The one from yesterday had had a black envelope with golden brick patterns like Bill sometimes had, this one was checkered like a chess board. Dipper turned it around to see the familiar Pine Tree that showed it was for him and noted that there were two chess pieces on the back, a King on the right and a Queen on the left. 

The Mystery Shack could wait ten more minutes. 

The boy sat down and didn’t even bother getting out of the warm coat he was dressed in as he grabbed the letter opener on the table and carefully pushed it under the flap, trying not to tear more than he had to. Once it was open he didn’t miss a moment as he put the small sword back in its place and took out the letter to read it, feeling a sort of excitement piling up in his stomach as he recognized the black paper and golden writing. He wasn’t sure what to expect after the one from yesterday but his heart increased its pace in impatience regardless. To Bill’s credit, this one started out nicer but the topic for it wasn’t really a light one.

It was about their soul bond.

Dipper had mixed feelings for it. He adored Bill, he had grown to love the Demon more than he could have ever thought possible but he never quite forgave him for the trick he pulled with the immortality bit of their soul pact. It was a hard thing to forgive, not only because it was a trick but because Dipper would live to see everyone die before him, it was pretty depressing for him. Bill had explained reincarnation cycles to him countless times but it didn’t change the fact that he would have to attend the funerals of everyone he knew. The Demon made it clear in the letter that while he knew Dipper still held that against him, he didn’t regret it and the brunet pursed his lips as he read over the words, sincerely hoping there was more to it because this wasn’t something new, nor something Dipper really liked to hear. He knew Bill never regretted that trick even when Dipper was clearly upset over it, he refused to apologize. No apology was in this letter either. Instead it went to talk about chess and their games, similar to how the Demon would go from one topic to another while talking so Dipper couldn’t say he was too surprised. 

His curiosity was peaked when he got to a comparison Bill had made though. 

‘If we were chess pieces, you’d be my King and I’d be your Queen.’

Dipper had to reread that a few times to make sure he hadn’t mistaken it. As far as he knew Bill quite preferred the title King or Pharaoh, he preferred the absolute power in such things which, theoretically speaking, should be held by the King always. It was a bit strange that he had chosen the Queen instead but Dipper was starting to see where he was coming from as he read through. The Queen did have all the power, she moved everywhere and could do almost anything, it wasn’t a chess piece you wanted to lose so it wasn’t one you’d use as a sacrifice unless you had to save the King, nor one that would sacrifice herself for others otherwise and even if you killed it the rest could go on. The King on the other hand had limited movement but was the most important because you won the game by trapping him. Bill was definitely the most powerful out of them and did whatever he wanted while Dipper was pretty limited as a human, but when it came down to it Dipper was more important in Bill’s eyes than anyone else. 

‘I know you hate me for it – though immortality looks very flattering on you, Pine Tree! – but I wouldn’t take it back for all of the gold in the multi-verse. I found a way to make sure my King doesn’t die, so by all means, I am always going to be the winner.’

The temperature was a bit hot and it was likely because Dipper hadn’t taken his coat off but even so Dipper was starting to see why people got so wound up over love letters…and perhaps he was a bit too wound up over it himself because he was distracted the whole day and zoned out a bit more than was normal even when he had gotten a pretty decent night’s rest.

The letter joined the first on his nightstand later that evening and Dipper went to bed with a smile on his face. 

***** 

The third letter appeared shortly after Dipper had had his breakfast the next day and while Dipper was not one to leave things dirty after him – Bill did enough chaos for the both of them, someone had to be the responsible one – he turned off the sink, dried his hands and rushed towards the living room as soon as he spotted it, leaving the dirty dishes for later. He couldn’t help the grin on his lips as he all but let himself fall onto the couch, quickly snatching up the envelope and stopping to admire its look. It was black and there were blue symbols on it, most of which he recognized easily as belonging to the Cipher Wheel. His was already on the back since it was addressed to him and a few others were also there. He recognized Mabel’s Shooting Star; Ford’s six fingered hand and Stan’s fez symbol. He also recognized a few others but they were significantly smaller. 

He almost wanted to take his time guessing what was written inside but didn’t have the patience as he reached for the letter opener and did his best not to just tear it open recklessly. After all, it was pretty so he didn’t want to ruin it or accidentally tear the letter inside as he opened it. Once again he was greeted by the smooth black paper and the golden ink, the beautiful calligraphy being a welcome sight. This time it didn’t start off by talking about him or their relationship though, but instead went to promptly skipping over any introduction and whining about Ford not being able to get his head out of his backside enough to stop attempting to send him back into the next dimension. It wasn’t as if Dipper hadn’t heard Bill whine about Ford or Stan before, but he couldn’t help it that he had to hold back his laughter as he read the letter, imagining Bill’s dramatics a bit too vividly in his mind. It went on to whine a bit about Stan, as well as Mabel, surprisingly enough, and even a few others from the Cipher Wheel. Dipper couldn’t say he was surprised after knowing him for so long. He wasn’t sure when but he had stopped trying to make Bill act nice about it at some point because it didn’t work. At least Bill tried to be, mostly, civil for him. 

It went from the little rant to talking about the reveal of their relationship and Dipper almost winced at the memory…his family had not taken it well. No, they definitely had not taken it well and, for all of Bill’s jokes and quips, he was surprised to find the Demon acknowledging that in the letter as well. He also felt a bit pained to find out his life-partner somewhat agreed with them. Logically, they were right after all, Bill was not a good choice for Dipper given the craziness, immortality and overall almost destroying the universe as we know it deal, but neither really brought that up. Both cared for each other so there wasn’t ever a need, was there? As long as they had each other they found it alright to be selfish and drown in that happiness. Yes, Bill agreed with Dipper’s family in the letter – and also told him not to tell Fordsy because not only would he never live it down but Fordsy would never get down from his high pedestal either, nor let them hear the end of it – but Bill was also a very selfish being. No, he couldn’t give Dipper everything a normal person could have given him – and frankly Dipper did not want something ‘normal’ either – and was definitely not the best choice for him but he did love and cherish him more than anything and in that sense he was the best choice for him. 

Dipper proceeded to let himself lay down on the couch like a love-struck fool for the next hour or so, just running his fingertips over the words and rereading the letter happily. Bill wasn’t this sincere usually and if that wasn’t enough to make him melt, those few last paragraphs surely were…

***** 

Dipper was getting impatient. It was past lunch already but no letter had appeared…maybe Bill discontinued them? Maybe he wasn’t getting one? Maybe that was all? He wasn’t sure he could accept that as an adult right then and not throw a tantrum if that was the case. He wasn’t sure he could accept it at all even as he reread the last three. In the end he got so impatient that he would take up any possible excuse to pass by the living room and the letter’s usual place. He ended up going on a cleaning spree which proved enough of an adventure with some of the things in the house, though he kept interrupting himself to look into the room and could barely concentrate when actually cleaning the living room. The worst part? He was sure that with all of the triangles in the house Bill was having a field day watching him getting impatient over a damn letter. By the end of it Dipper was chewing on his lip in frustration and was starting to hate how much he felt like a pouncing cat waiting for a mouse to appear, so he decided he needed to get out. He got his things and spent the rest of the day at the Mystery Shack, joking with Wendy which helped distract him well enough. He also somehow got to telling them about the love letters and got relentlessly teased, but frankly couldn’t even make a comeback to most of them because he felt like a blushing mess whenever he thought about the words he already had memorized. 

He got home around evening and found himself surprisingly tired by the day. He was so tired that he actually went through with his bedtime routine without thinking twice. It was only when he went downstairs to get himself some hot chocolate that he realized he forgot to check if a letter had appeared. He almost didn’t want to check as to not give Bill the satisfaction but his fingers were itching at the thought and he ended up giving in and turning on the lights in the living room. A letter stood innocently on the small table and Dipper instantly forgot everything about his hot chocolate as he fell into the familiar couch and took the letter, feeling very much like a school girl during her first date as he looked at it. He noted that it looked pretty simple but felt heavier than usual. The envelope was a light blue and held a few symbols on it, particularly symbols that had been used when their second deal was struck. 

Was it something about their bond then? 

Probably. 

Dipper reached for the letter opener and wasted no time in using it, taking out dark blue papers with golden writing. Huh, he would have expected Bill to continue using black paper, but he wasn’t put off in the least by the small change. Instead, he was put off a moment by being faced with several lists. He blinked and moved the papers in his hands since there was definitely more than one, though they were all titled instead of being addressed like normal letters: appearance, quirks, speech…Dipper decided to start reading through the first one and soon found his face on fire. He was starting to see why they were titled. Each was literally a list of things Bill liked or noticed about him, accompanied with comments and compliments as needed – or at least where Bill considered they were needed which was pretty much everywhere. It was a bit embarrassing to read but also kind of interesting – did he really pull his sleeves when fidgeting? Well, Mabel had complained about him always somehow loosening the materials of the sweaters she made him. Did his eyes really brighten up and go rounder when he saw something he liked? Did he really go through destroying about three pens or more when thinking about something hard before noticing? 

It was actually an endearing read, albeit one that left him red faced. 

It wasn’t until he got to a page which was coloured pink instead of blue that he actually felt the need to hide his face in the nearest pillow though. Intimate. Yes, those were all pretty intimate and sexual things and Dipper wasn’t sure he could push through with reading that particular list. Bill didn’t even have a damn assigned gender or originally cared about sex why did he have to go write those? Well, technically it made sense since they were things Bill liked about Dipper and it wasn’t as if they didn’t have a healthy sexual relationship as well…but reading them was going to make Dipper blow a fuse at this rate and he didn’t even want to think about the comments on it.

Frankly, he had no idea how he managed to make it through the whole of the lists without turning into an actual tomato. By the end he decided that he needed a glass of cold water rather than a cup of hot cocoa and wasn’t able to sleep even when settling himself comfortably on the bed. He kept reaching for the letters and rereading the parts he liked or running his fingers over the calligraphy. It was likely the middle of the night when he did fall asleep, holding one of the letters close, forgetting the nearby lamp on.

***** 

The next day Dipper slept in and, for the sake of his own sanity, avoided the living room until later in the day by watching movies on his laptop…well, that was the plan but he gave up as soon as his stomach decided he needed to eat and he had to pass by the living room. He managed to heat something up for himself to take with him to the living room and eat while checking for the love letter. Dutifully, the envelope waited in its usual spot with the letter opener on top of it. Dipper quickly placed the food on the bigger table in the room and snatched the letter up, needing a moment to look over the envelope. Today it was a light pink and had the most over-exaggerated heart design Dipper had ever seen. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what that was about but wasn’t really that put off as he used the sword shaped object to tear it open neatly.

This time the letter started off with compliments and Dipper couldn’t help but feel happy and a tad prideful even if he knew that Bill was likely just stroking his ego in the beginning by calling him smart and complimenting his intelligence. After all, Dipper got a lot of his knowledge from Bill even if he was naturally intelligent himself. All the same it still made him happy for Bill to think of him on such high grounds intellectually and he did love it whenever the other complimented him on being smart because it was the first quality he had truly liked about himself and concentrated on. It had taken him quite a bit to actually find other qualities about himself that he liked to identify with but his intelligence was still his preferred one. It was the one that helped him shape himself with time after all and also the one which let him have good conversations with Bill even before their second deal. 

He should have expected that if it started off so sweetly it was bound to derail somewhere. It soon turned from talking about anything he knew academically to Dipper’s own personal preference in books about adventure, sci-fi and…romance. Dipper could feel his cheeks burning in embarrassment as the letter proceeded to tease him about them while at the same time gushing about how cute he was for reading them and being a hopeless romantic himself. For all of his years and openness with the Demon he was never quite that open about liking those types of romantic things even with the accumulating collection of novels, TV series, DVDs and sketches. He did like them and Bill often indulged him, but he did have particular preferences regarding them. Mabel always preferred mushy things and was sometimes willing to compromise when reading something if it wasn’t that good in some departments while Dipper was very particular about the relationship making sense and having something to build on in the stories he read, he liked having a plot to work with though sometimes simple lovey-dovey stuff was nice to read as well. Yes, for all it was worth he liked clichés and romantic things. What was that word Bill had used for him before? Amative? The Demon had used it to tease him at a few points because most people seemed to overlook the word that literally meant ‘inclined to love’. 

Seriously, the nerve of this Demon! 

“I’ll have you know some have a very good plot.” He muttered, trying to sound bitter in his retort but failing miserably as he glanced towards a triangle window on the side of the room. He got no answer to his words like usual and despite his best efforts he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face as he reread the golden writing on the pink page, a match to the envelope. Perhaps he was amative, but Bill always did a very good job at keeping him happy – the occasional murder and wanting to take over the universe phase aside.

****** 

Saturday was spent helping make decorations for the upcoming Valentine’s day party at the Mystery Shack, cutting out hearts, hanging up decorations and deciding on colours and themes. Mabel wasn’t there to help but she made sure to send them any references and instructions through skype or tell them by phone. All in all, things were going pretty well...and Dipper had yet to hear the end of the teasing for the love letters Bill was sending him but in truth he couldn’t help but feel a bit prideful and more than a little happy with them. Wendy insisted he got this little spark in his eye whenever they were brought up and Dipper wasn’t sure he could deny it either. He did love them and Bill had never taken to writing him letters before. It was actually pretty old fashioned in these days to send letters in any shape or form but Dipper loved the connotations they held and the way Bill tailored each of them to their relationship. It was sweet and made his heart speed up whenever he thought about it. All five letters were currently neatly settled on his bedside table at home and Dipper was considering getting a nice little box to place them in as to keep them safe in the future. 

It sounded like a good idea. 

He made a short trip to Gravity Falls later that day and was thankful to find the stores were still open. After looking around for a while he finally found a decorative box he liked...it was Valentine’s themed though. It was black and had red hearts on it and the shades weren’t bad, nor were the hearts exaggerated. Bill wouldn’t mind if he used this right? It did look pretty nice. After a few minutes of just mentally debating if Bill would mind it or not, he decided he’d take it. Bill didn’t celebrate or care for human customs so this box wouldn’t have any significance to him either even if it was Valentine’s themed. Dipper ended up having dinner at the Mystery Shack with everyone else – they ordered pizza – and returned home in the evening, going into the living room without a second thought. 

Today’s envelope was, surprisingly so, white but Dipper noticed it had drawings on it.

The brunet didn’t even bother taking off his coat and shoes as he entered the living room and dropped into the couch, kicking his shoes off and making quick work of taking the coat off as well before grabbing the letter, his bags from town left on the floor. Now that he got a closer look he could see the drawings were similar to the ones he made, most being of triangles and monsters. He couldn’t help his grin as he crossed his legs underneath him and tore the envelope open as carefully as he could in his excitement, bringing out the black paper with golden writing lying within. Somewhere along the way Dipper had stopped expecting the letters to be anything else than love letters and Bill seemed to have noticed as well because he took the time to mention it. 

He mentioned the screaming heads and a lot of other things, weirdmageddon included...and how despite everything Dipper still loved him which just made Bill adore him more. He talked about how Dipper lit up when learning something new, about how wound up he got when watching a show or playing video games, about how happy he became at the simplest of love gestures...and about how most of all, Bill loved how happy Dipper looked when he saw him. And it was true because Dipper adored Bill and simply lit up when the Demon came to see him or came back from one of his little trips. Most of the time he’d happily welcome him back and get pulled into a hug if he didn’t hug him first. They had a very loving relationship in truth, one with a lot of affection and banter that they both adored despite everything that they both put the other through and it really shined through in the letter Bill had written him. It wasn’t until the alarm Dipper had set on his phone for a new show he wanted to watch rang that Dipper realized how late it was and that he should probably put his coat and shoes in their rightful place instead of leaving them strewn across the living room. He also needed to shower and change into something more comfortable for that matter, all the more if he wanted to be comfy and have popcorn by the time the show started. 

The letter joined the rest in their new decorative box on Dipper’s bedstand that night, having its turn at the boy’s curious fingers ghosting over the writing and the familiar signature at the end of the page.

***** 

Dipper was sure he and Bill had been through this conversation a few times before, but just in case...”Please don’t kill anyone, I appreciate the gesture and the letter but please don’t murder anyone.” The words were addressed towards the triangular window in the room and no response came. Dipper could only hope Bill was not in one of his moods because while he did love that day’s letter he was not sure he wanted to deal with a murder spree on his hands when that was exactly what he was trying to prevent from the Dream Demon more often than not. 

Today’s letter was once again black with constellations on it, the big Dipper being the only one done in blue on the back of the envelope so it stood out. The letter itself was black with golden ink, similar to most of Bill’s letters up until then, a pattern Dipper had gotten used to, with thick ink that he could run his fingers over long after he had finished reading. Dipper had found it downstairs when he had woken up and had opened it without even going through his morning routine, too impatient to wait five minutes so he could wash his face and teeth or even brush his messy hair. It was Sunday anyhow, so it wasn’t like he had to be anywhere. Compared to the other letters he had gotten from the Demon this one went into a slightly darker direction, which Dipper should have expected to happen long ago. Yes, Bill could be romantic and sweet and absolutely lovely, but he was still a Demon, one that had quite a bit of bloodlust in him every so often and one that never quite forgot a slight, all the more if the slight was towards Dipper rather than himself. 

One thing Dipper had learnt about Bill over the years was that compared to everyone else, he found Dipper’s birthmark absolutely charming and quite cute. He thought it made him special, you didn’t just get a birthmark like that without a reason after all! He thought it was lovely that his life partner had such a birthmark though he had never originally stopped to really question why Dipper continued to wear a cap when going outside. He had just taken it for granted in the beginning till one day when Dipper refused to take it off even in front of him because some people had made fun of him for it earlier that day and he felt too self-conscious about it. This seemed to have angered the dream Demon even when they weren’t together yet. Bill was all for Dipper wearing something to cover his birthmark up with if he wanted to when going out, he kind of entertained the idea of being the only one who he showed it to willingly, but he despised the idea that Dipper did it out of fear of being ridiculed and had stated – quite a few times – that he was perfectly fine with killing whoever had done that or ever again did so if the boy wanted him to. 

Dipper would prefer not having the murder of innocents – albeit most of them idiots or self-righteous pricks – on his conscience so he had asked Bill not to. It was now about twenty years since he had met Bill and fourteen years or so since they were together and they still had to revise this discussion regularly by the looks of it. Both Dipper and Bill held grudges. Bill was just more murderous and direct about his which meant that Dipper often tried to mellow him down. Dipper did love how Bill talked about his birthmark in the letter and about him being ‘special’ in so many ways but he very much would prefer that the murderous part of the letter did not come to pass in real life. 

All in all, the letter was placed in the box with all of the others once Dipper returned to his room, thought the boy might as well have carried it around with him for the day with how often he took it out to reread it.

***** 

Breakfast could go unsupervised for a few minutes right? Surely so, it would only take Dipper a few minutes to read the letter anyhow, it was perfectly fine and not dangerous at all! That being said, Dipper hurried towards the living room and plopped himself down onto the couch, leaving the stove’s fire on low. Today’s envelope was black with small little ciphers on it, most which barely made any sense even when decoded from what Dipper could tell – they were simple ones so he could do them mentally. He tore the envelope open with the sword shaped letter opener and quickly took out the letter inside. The paper was white and a bit old and crumpled. Instead of the usual elegant golden inked writing Dipper found himself face to face with old sketches of his own and notes.

He felt himself flush as he realized what he was holding. “I thought I threw these away!” Clearly Bill had either saved them or conjured them up somehow because there they were right in front of him. When had he even made these? Maybe a few months into their relationship? Probably somewhere along that timeline if he remembered correctly. The papers were full of triangles which were supposed to represent Bill – he had even drawn the bow and top hat – along with an undefined human figure. He had been trying to figure out if he could properly cuddle Bill while he was in his triangle form, which proved to be a bit difficult, hence the sketches so he could get a general idea. He noticed that along his notes and scribbles, drawings and faded lines, the familiar golden ink also appeared. That blasted Demon, he had put a commentary near them and Dipper wasn’t sure if to be embarrassed or groan...both sounded good. There were a few comments here and there like ‘you realize this won’t work in real life, right?’; ‘Pine Tree, bodies don’t work that way, neither yours nor mine and careful at the edges, I don’t look like that’ along with ‘I can just shrink and stay in your hair, I like that. Sorry for pulling your curls that one time but you kind of deserved it!’ and ‘This doesn’t look comfortable Pine Tree, but if you want to use me as a plushy I’m all for it!’ 

Alright...perhaps he was just a bit amused by the commentary as he looked through them. 

He felt something else underneath his fingers as he moved onto the next page enclosed in the envelope only to find a picture instead. It was a photo of him and Bill cuddled up on the couch under the covers. In the picture they were cuddling close and it must have been evening, probably sometime during their movie or show marathons because it was dark except for the light from the nearby TV. The Dipper in the picture was asleep and fully leaning onto the Demon, snuggled up close and using him as a pillow despite the various actual pillow options all around them, a bowl of popcorn forgotten in the corner. It looked pretty cute actually though Bill must have taken it without telling him because he couldn’t recall it. He turned it around to see if there was a date on it only to be met with more golden writing. 

‘Instructions on hugging Pine Tree: Pull close (don’t startle or you risk your hearing and several injuries), make sure he’s comfortable, kiss his forehead and nuzzle him gently while avoiding the very ticklish spots (unless you wish to start a tickle war). If he’s in a good mood cuddles are very possible. Very affectionate once comfortable, best cuddled when no one else is around. Seems very prickly and sharp but is actually very soft and the perfect size for any form of affection, smells like the forest, rain dew, chocolate and old books. Occasionally also smells like nice shampoos and human perfumes (note: doesn’t like most inter-dimensional perfumes). Warm, extremely cuddable and very affectionate. 14/10 would definitely hold for all eternity.’ 

Sometimes Dipper regretted showing Bill popular media but this was definitely not one of those times. He couldn’t help his laughter as he reread the ‘instructions’, a flush of happiness on his cheeks as he reread the words without a care in the world...at least until the smell of something burning reached his nose and he realized that he had likely burnt his breakfast. A ruined breakfast and a run to the Mystery Shack later Dipper was trying to find a good explanation as to why he was late for the meeting they had settled and smelled like he had just been in a fire...one that didn’t involve him forgetting about breakfast because he was fawning over one of Bill’s love letters to him.

***** 

On the basis of what had happened the day before, Dipper gathered up all of his willpower as to not go into the living room and read that day’s letter too soon. Instead he rushed through his morning routine and went for the Shack before he could go into the living room. They worked on setting up things for the party and sending out some stray invitations that day which was distracting enough, thankfully. Dipper got home in the evening so he assumed that the letter would be there as always...but, again, on the basis of avoiding a disaster, he forced himself to eat dinner first and even clean up – though he had a hard time keeping from rushing through everything – before entering the living room. 

The day’s letter waited faithfully on the small table. It was red with golden triangles and small pine tree symbols all over. Dipper thought it looked pretty cute as he started tearing open the envelope to see what Bill had written inside, a grand smile on his lips and a spark in his brown eyes as he unfolded it impatiently. The paper was a dark red as well, but the shade was easy on the eyes and the golden ink held a nice contrast to it. He started reading it eagerly, fingers tracing the golden ink on the lower side of the page as he went through the first paragraph. The small gesture he had gotten accustomed to doing while reading Bill’s letters, that of letting his fingers ghost over the ink that stood in relief with the page, stopped rather abruptly as Dipper had to reread the first paragraph once or twice before moving onto the second and realizing exactly where the letter was going. 

It was a very...descriptive letter for lack of a better word. A very descriptive and arousing letter that made warmth coil in the brunet’s stomach and left his throat dry with desire. He had to shift in his spot several times and could feel his cheeks burning even as he refused to stop reading the written words that felt as if they were burning through him in the most delicious sense. Frankly, it was a bit too much for his imagination and love-struck mind by this point, especially after all of the affectionate letters Bill had been sending him. However, this was more so the type of letter that could definitely be used instead of a prelude to entice and incite one’s partner and Dipper couldn’t quite recall the last time he wanted Bill to get back sooner from his Mindscape plans or whatever he was doing. Usually, he never minded but this was a very new and different situation. Seriously, writing him something like that and not even being there to help him take care of the consequences was just mean. 

The letter joined the others in the box and while the letter was pulled out so Dipper could run his fingers over the writing a few more times, the boy mostly fell asleep to his own thoughts and fantasies.

Seriously, the things he’d do to that Demon when he got back. 

***** 

Biting his lower lip in aggravation, Dipper stared at the innocent looking letter lying on the living room table. He glanced at the clock as if that would give him the answer but, frankly, he still had enough time before the time he promised to be at the Shack to help Soos and Melody. If he read now he would still have about an hour or two to just gush over the letter and compose himself which should be good enough. On the other hand, if the letter proved to be something similar to the one from the day before Dipper was not sure he would be able to go out of the house and function without making a complete fool of himself. Today’s letter held three colours: black, red and gold...given those were the colours of Bill’s eldritch form – which Dipper loved as well not to get him wrong, he loved that nihilistic Demon whatever form he adopted – he wasn’t sure what he should expect from it. 

Deciding that it was likely – hopefully – not something sexual or that would turn his brain into mush for the rest of the day, Dipper decided to open it. He grabbed it with an aggravated gesture at how much time he had lost just making that decision and lifted the letter opener from the table to tear it open. He stopped just for one moment when he realized it was a bit heavier than he would have expected it to be...either a very long letter or, from what he suspected, something else was inside the envelope as well. He could feel his heartbeat start to quicken as he opened the envelope and took out the familiar black paper along with what he recognized as an amulet, a black and red gem that had been made into a necklace. Carefully, he placed the amulet back on the table, not quite willing to do anything with it or even hold it till he found out what kind of amulet it was. He unfolded the black paper and felt warmth swell in his chest as he was once again faced with Bill’s familiar cursive handwriting.

The letter was definitely not a sexual one but it wasn’t a normal love letter either. If anything it was a bit of a controversial kind. It was the type that spoke of things most people could not stomach and made your heartbeat go faster with adrenaline and fear rather than with love and lust. It was the type that spoke of human fragility a bit too casually and far too descriptively, it was the type that made shivers run down Dipper’s spine, the type that would have sent him into a fit of paranoia before him and Bill officially became a couple. He wasn’t even that far in when goose bumps appeared on his skin, throat going dry as he read it, enticed with each word and curve and just a bit fearful of even touching the golden letters this time, as if they would cut him. 

The Demon would never hurt him though. 

Bill wouldn’t hurt Dipper and somewhere in the dark words and carnal desire of blood and lust enclosed in the letter Dipper couldn’t help finding that sort of strange and impossible romanticism that Demons tended to have and convey. There were a few bits of information on the amulet at the end but Dipper read them in a daze before going back to rereading the letter itself, shivers going down his spine along with the occasional shudder. Carefully, as if the letters would bite, he brought his fingertips to touch the golden ink. His thumb just barely ghosted over the long curved decoration of an ‘s’ when his phone rang and Dipper promptly let go of it as if he had been burnt. Feeling as if he had just swallowed his own voice and more than just a little distressed at the sudden interruption, he reached for his bag with trembling hands – when had that happened? – and started searching through it till he finally found the small device. He pressed the big button in the middle and answered without looking at the ID. 

“H-hello?” His voice was shaking and sounded much meeker than he would have liked, but to his defense the sudden break from the morbid euphoria the letter’s words induced really caught him off guard. 

“Hey, Dipper! We’re meeting in twenty minutes at the Mystery Shack, right?” The voice was Wendy’s and it seemed far too loud for Dipper’s ears but he feared that if he searched for the volume control buttons he might accidentally close the call instead, with how shaky his hands felt. For a moment the boy nodded as if the girl could see him before realizing she couldn’t. 

“Yes. That’s right.” He couldn’t help a slight stutter, voice still surprisingly quiet and Wendy picked up on that a bit too quickly. 

“Uh, you alright? You sound a bit shaken.” She pointed out, sounding just a bit concerned that the boy might have gotten himself into some other supernatural mess. It was a bit of a wake-up call at least because Dipper himself wasn’t sure he realized how quiet or shaken he was. For the sake of not worrying anyone he tried to make his voice louder as he answered, though it sounded strange in the quiet room he was in. 

“I’m fine really! I’ll see you in twenty minutes, alright? I better get going or I’ll be late.” Thankfully, Wendy didn’t push it and Dipper closed the call not long after they said their goodbyes. Silence once again engulfed the room and he carefully picked up the letter, folding it as gently as he could and making his way upstairs to place it in the box with the others. For a moment he wondered if it was alright to place it there, almost fearing it’d grow a mouth and eat the others. It was likely mostly out of time constraints that he decided it would be alright before going downstairs, grabbing the protective amulet and dashing towards the Mystery Shack for the day. 

No, the letter had not turned his mind to mush, not in the usual way, but it had been more than enough of a distraction for Dipper the rest of the day. Things went quite normally with the exception of the occasional startled reaction which most, thankfully, attributed to the boy’s general paranoia. 

***** 

As to not have to put in too much effort during the weekend, Melody had come up with a plan to finish most things regarding the party they were planning for Sunday on Thursday and Friday. Both Wendy and Dipper were helping along with a few others so it was bound to turn out pretty good and they would hopefully finish in record time with how they were going up until then. Somewhere along the line Mabel had also caught wind of the love letters Dipper was getting from his other half and, at least in Dipper’s opinion, she seemed far too happy with it. She also looked ready to interrogate him on them but had decided it could wait till after Valentine’s as she was currently busy with the celebration herself. Dipper had tried talking her out of it several times but he kind of doubted it worked. He had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to explain any of Bill’s love letters to her because, frankly, they were a bit too personal to explain and saying something along the lines of ‘killing, corpses, blood and some other morbid manifestations of sacrificial rituals seem to be romantic to some Demons, this one included’ would not bode well with his sister. All in all, he needed to figure out some lies to tell her after Valentine’s Day or figure out a way to make her stop asking. Neither route seemed easy really. 

If he lied about Bill using mushy stuff for his letters, would that get him out of the situation or just dig him a deeper hole? 

For the sake of his sanity he decided to push those thoughts away for now. Plus, all thoughts about anything left him the moment he saw the gold and blue envelope waiting for him in the living room. He just got to take his boots off before heading into the living room and letting himself fall onto the couch. He took his gloves and coat off haphazardly, cheeks still flushed from the cold, then grabbed the envelope with glee in his eyes. It was split in half, the left side being golden while the right was blue. Those were their colours after all. By now Dipper had gotten quite adept at opening letters and wasted no time in doing the same with this one. Familiar smoothness met his skin and he quickly unfolded the black papers, crossing his legs underneath him in excitement as his eyes went over the golden letters. However, it wasn’t only gold that decorated the page but also blue. The letter started out in gold and then broke into a list, each golden point seeming to have a blue one to couple it with. 

Dipper could feel his curiosity spike at the strange list, needing quite a bit of willpower not to just read that first instead of the words before it. Today’s letter was...quite long. Dipper found several papers there which had originally excited him beyond words but as he continued reading he felt his stomach drop a bit. Yes, there were a few papers and there was a long list because it was a list of differences...and goodness, had there always been so many? The words in the beginning were pretty kind before breaking into a list of all of their differences. Some were pretty serious while others were almost placed there jokingly, some just seemed like quips and he even recognized some inside jokes but it didn’t change the fact that when he looked at them he just began to see everything that kept him and Bill apart. It was a good letter, it was supposed to be fun, he could tell, but he couldn’t seem to take any pleasure from it. He loved Bill’s letters until then but this one just made his heart ache. He was trying to make himself read through the second page without letting his own thoughts and paranoia get to him that perhaps something was wrong, that perhaps their relationship wouldn’t last, that perhaps all of these differences would turn into cracks that would destroy everything they had and everything Dipper loved about their relationship...he really tried but found himself unable to read through all of that without feeling his heart break a bit...they were all differences. There wasn’t a single thing in common on this list and nowhere that it broke into another list even when looking at the other pages. For a moment he almost felt like crying. He knew Bill loved him and Dipper loved him back more than he could say, the letters from before were all testaments of Bill loving him but this one really got to him in a bad way for some reason. 

Heart clenched painfully, he moved through the papers with shaking hands till he found the last one, the curvy signature of his life-partner staring back at him along with the end of the list. It was likely the first time he had ever skipped reading anything in Bill’s letters ever since he had started receiving them but he couldn’t help but look for something. Anything. He wanted some kind of conclusion to this list, some kind of end because it seemed as if it would never end with how long it was! At the very end of the list there actually was a small note of ‘and billions of other differences’ that made Dipper very much hate it all the more so. However, there was some writing afterwards and if Dipper felt like crying in despair earlier, he felt like crying with relief after. Yes, there were a ton of differences between him and Bill and more to come and be discovered, no doubt, but Bill loved him. Bill loved him a lot. Bill loved him so much that he loved all of the differences he listed there even if he didn’t agree with some things himself. Bill loved him so much for all of his differences and adored him so much that them being together despite all of these potential problems was the most amazing thing to him. 

And Dipper loved him just as much. 

Going back to the beginning with a lighter mood and comfort in his heart, the brunet took his time reading each little difference from the list in turn, smiling and occasionally making his own comments on some of them. There were so many differences but Dipper found he adored all of the things that made Bill different compared to him, just as Bill adored everything about him. 

However, there was only one phrase that he kept rereading and running his fingers over that night...

‘P.S. I love you, Pine Tree~’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the random letters I conjured up for this @O@' This whole thing is a pile of fluff .w. Kudos and comments are always appreciated, they make me smile.


	3. I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love letters are sweet and Dipper might be just a bit addicted to them.

Friday had definitely been exhausting to say the least. They had all the supplies but settling them around and figuring out where everything went, carrying things from the storage out into the hall they were using and getting any last supplies while also figuring out details was simply tiring. They had plenty of help but they were all still going left and right and in every other direction at Melody’s instructions as they settled everything in its rightful place. The girl was surprisingly good at planning and leading things in truth and with Wendy helping around you just couldn’t go wrong. They finished in record time and Dipper had to admit that despite the amazing amount of red and pink in the room, it did look pretty good! Even so, that didn’t change the fact that they were all pretty exhausted after this little ‘project’. Saturday would be free so they could all get a break and recharge their batteries and the party would be on Valentine’s day, which they were all invited to go to, of course. 

Since they were done early, Wendy invited Dipper to go out and get some hot chocolate with her so they could catch up on anything that they hadn’t yet gotten to talk about given that Dipper had been at the Shack on and off and that Wendy herself hadn’t joined them on all days either. It was a nice day overall but it didn’t take a genius to see that while Dipper was having fun and being polite, he seemed to want nothing more than to run right back home the moment he got the chance. Wendy found it amusing how flustered he became when she pointed it out, but she knew Dipper wasn’t doing it with bad intent really. The boy had just been very happy over the love letters he had been receiving in the last time and it wasn’t hard to see that. Wendy wasn’t really one for all of that silly Valentine ’s Day mush but she could understand that Dipper had the right to indulge in it, especially since Bill usually didn’t celebrate it. Dipper could say whatever he wanted, this whole thing seemed like a series of Valentine’s letters to her. And as Dipper still looked like a teenager she almost expected it of him. With him not changing over the years he just looked like more of a kid to her than before though she knew they weren’t that far apart in age when it came down to it and Dipper had always been quite mature. She sent him on his way with a smile and a cup of hot chocolate, which Dipper was grateful for. Wendy had always been cool about things and pretty understanding.

Dipper tried to call out to Bill when he got home to see if his partner had decided to return from his trip to the mindscape or whatever dimension he decided was ‘fun’ during this period of the year, but got no answer as he took off his coat and boots, throwing away the empty cup of hot cocoa as he made his way into the living room. Usually Dipper had the habit of either going to see Bill when he got home – if the Demon didn’t beat him to it – or of going to his room to change, but in the last time the living room got all of his attention, if only because it held the love letters Bill had been spoiling him with that month. That day’s envelope was decorated with pine trees and if Dipper wasn’t so excited to open it he would have rolled his eyes at that silly triangle of his. The familiar tearing was heard through the room and soon enough Dipper was pulling out the letter of the day: dark blue paper adorned with familiar golden writing. The boy couldn’t stop smiling as he went through the familiar movements of unfolding the paper. As a matter of fact he just couldn’t stop smiling whenever he thought about the letters or saw a new one waiting for him. 

They made him really happy. 

This one held no list as the one from the day before had, but it did enumerate quite a few things as Dipper read along. It was also much more light-hearted and Dipper found himself smiling like a love-struck idiot – which he was really, he had been one for fourteen years at the very least by now – while reading it from top to bottom. On the basis that they were in the twelfth of that month and that twelve was generally a good luck number, Bill had decided to list all of the good parts of their relationship – or a nice chunk of them anyhow – along with a few more unusual things they did that they found normal but others didn’t. It was true. After all, most people did not go about researching monsters for fun or bringing their lover some inter-dimensional plant or another. Most lovers also didn’t threaten their other halves with unicorn hair or decided that quantum physics was the perfect conversation topic for breakfast either. 

All in all, they were little things that they did and had gotten so accustomed to that they were normal for them, but definitely strange for others – their different ways of communication included. They were so normal for them that they sometimes forgot about them being weird for others and freaked everyone around them out sooner or later without meaning to. Bill definitely did it on purpose sometimes though, mostly when Dipper was distracted with another task at the same time so that he would answer without thinking twice about the situation before it was too late. Yes, they had a lot of weird things in their relationship which they loved and wouldn’t change for the world, it was a mutual feeling. However, that didn’t change the fact that Dipper all but gushed over the words in the letter as he read them. 

‘I am so grateful you are mine, because no one could accommodate me better.’

***** 

“Disco girl coming through! That girl is you~.” 

Ah, how Dipper had missed that song! It was so nostalgic to hear it on the shuffle of the songs on his laptop but he was still happy it had come on. Really, it wasn’t that unusual for him to put on a playlist and dance around the house or just go about his business while having it in the background. Occasionally, Bill would tease him about it and Dipper planned on promptly ignoring any of Bill’s remarks about this when he came back. It wasn’t like he was the only one anyhow, Bill himself would randomly bring up a song or two every once in a while or Dipper would find himself hearing the piano from his study and going to see what the Demon was up to. And yes, they had a piano room, compliments of his surprisingly musically talented demonic lover who also seemed to adore his voice and always wanted to pull him into random songs and duets whenever he got one of his moods. Dipper actually found it utmost endearing. However, Bill wasn’t home yet so Dipper enjoyed himself by dancing around and singing along with the random songs coming up on his laptop as he prepped up the living room into a gaming space for the night. 

He had the whole of Saturday free with no set plans and doubted Bill would be back the next day – usually he came back a few days or even a week after Valentine’s Day – so with that thought in mind and the excitement that a new letter would appear the upcoming day, Dipper decided that this time he would stay in the living room to see it. After all, it couldn’t hurt! He was curious if it appeared in a burst of Bill’s blue flames or just appeared without him noticing, either way there was nothing better to do that Saturday and he was in a lazy mood, so why not? It wasn’t like he didn’t have what to do if he stayed inside the house. Most supernatural creatures took a break as well during such bad weather and Multibear was hibernating still, plus it wasn’t like Dipper was looking forward to going outside and getting a cold. Staying inside with Bill’s love letters, music, some hot cocoa and some games sounded very pleasant to him. 

That being said, the boy had preoccupied his evening – after gushing over that day’s letter – with turning the couch into a bed like he and Bill would usually do when preparing for a movie marathon and then stacking pillows and covers on it till it looked like a fluffy sort of nest more than anything. Pleased with that side of the room, he made a point of collecting snacks and refreshments from the kitchen and preparing the PlayStation. If he was going to spend the time waiting for that letter he might as well find something to do and he had been ignoring that new MMORPG for far too long by then. Nothing better to distract you than an MMORPG with a lot of character customization, lots of classes and a good plot! While Dipper hadn’t gotten to playing it yet, he had heard it was pretty good. The only reason he had held off was because he was spending most of January with Bill so he had wanted to give him most of his attention since he got pretty caught up in his games once he started them. Bill didn’t necessarily mind it when his Pine Tree got into his games a bit too much, he liked watching him play or joining in sometimes but if he was in one of his clingy moods where he wanted Dipper’s attention solely on him there was literally no way of reasoning with him.

A playlist later of stacking pillows, covers, snacks and refreshments – as well as coffee – into the room, Dipper deemed it fit to start his little gaming night. Something seemed to be missing though and it took him a moment to realize what it was. Hurrying up the stairs and to his and Bill’s room, he went over to the bedside table and took the box in which he had carefully placed all of the twelve letters he had received from Bill, carrying them downstairs with the utmost care. After a moment of debate he decided to place them on a nearby armchair where he was sure they would be safe even if he was to spill something...he did move most things away from them though, just in case. Once that was taken care of he started the game, watching the first cut-scene before the customization panel for the character appeared. 

It would be a fun night. 

And truly, the game was quite good so Dipper got engaged enough in it that he didn’t fall asleep till...well, it was morning when he actually noticed the time again, mostly because someone who had been helping him in the game pointed it out in a ‘shouldn’t you be asleep?’ manner. Yes, it was definitely morning but it was so overcast that you could barely tell when looking outside. However, just because Dipper couldn’t tell the difference that well due to the lack of light outside, didn’t mean that his body couldn’t tell the difference, coffee or not. It was definitely morning and the tiredness of playing games all night was starting to catch up to him. Grumbling something under his breath and glancing towards the small empty table where the letter from Bill was supposed to appear, the boy took a moment to rub at his eyes. He could definitely last a bit longer, he just had a few more missions and then he’d be able to get that cool weapon he saw at the beginning of the game...then again perhaps just closing his eyes for a bit wouldn’t hurt? He took his character to a safe place in the game and had him sit down, then proceeded to take off his headphones and curl up on his side, pulling the covers close. The small table was within arm’s reach if the letter did appear and the headphones were nearby so he could still faintly hear the calming game music. 

He just wanted to close his eyes for a few moments after all...

At least that had been the plan. 

Dipper woke up later that day with the view outside just as overcast and snowy even if a bit lighter. Judging by the black sleeping screen he must have been out for more time than he had thought. He was only supposed to sleep for five minutes, but judging by the light outside he had probably been out for maybe a few hours instead. He groaned and turned on his back, shifting on the couch made bed to get more comfortable under the tangled covers. There really wasn’t that much light coming from outside, just enough to see about but it still seemed like too much as Dipper opened his eyes sleepily to look at the ceiling. He was in the middle of stretching when he noticed something that made him instantly jump up, eyes pinned to the small table near the couch.

A black envelope decorated with a golden triangle and a brick pattern stood innocently on the dark wood, a sword shaped letter opener on top of it. 

While he very much would have liked to curse his timing with sleep, Dipper found himself too sleepy even for that, plus the letter being there lifted his mood in an instant even if he hadn’t caught when it had appeared. A grin decorated his lips and he snatched the letter quickly, almost knocking the table down while at it. He cringed, but thankfully the table didn’t fall and Dipper caught the letter opener just before it was about to slip off the table. Laying back down into the covers and propping himself up on his pillows, he slid the letter opener underneath the flap of the envelope and enjoyed the familiar sound of it tearing open. He stretched just enough to put the letter opener back without getting up and then proceeded to pull out the familiar smooth black paper with golden ink, a smile on his lips as he started reading through the familiar writing, feeling the ink underneath his fingertips. 

Yesterday had been the twelfth which meant a good day as twelve was a good number. Today was the thirteenth which was often considered as a bad luck number so Bill had decided to play on that. If the Pine Tree envelope from yesterday held all of their good moments, the triangle decorated one from today held their bad moments...still, Dipper didn’t feel sad or threatened or even worried while reading through it. He didn’t feel any sort of panic or paranoia as he had when he had first seen the letter that enumerated their differences. Instead, he felt happy as he read through some of the past events they had gone through together, imagining Bill’s quips and exasperated tone as the letter went on. The best part was that while the letter was definitely filled with the bad moments they had had, it made a point that they always found a way out of them, came to a compromise and did their best to accommodate the other if they weren’t comfortable with something. It had a point. After all, it wasn’t that easy to get along with Bill and it was generally hard to talk about things openly and be honest with each other as to come to some sort of consensus. It was indeed hard but both Dipper and Bill seemed to have taken to it quite quickly once they got it through their thick heads that the other only wished the best for them. They also had a few rules about such fights just in case so that they wouldn’t leave them unresolved. No one liked a grumpy Demon and Bill couldn’t really seem to stand the thought of Dipper actually being mad at him now or, worse, sad because of him. 

All in all, Dipper loved the letter and had the hardest of times not giggling like a school girl while reading some parts and then rereading them. He took his sweet time lazing around and checking his game quickly before seeing just how late it was. Afternoon? How the hell had he managed to sleep until afternoon? Not that it didn’t make sense, but he had wanted to just have a ten minute nap not a cat nap of several hours. Yawning, he got up from his warm little spot and debated on settling the letter with the others but knew he’d just want to reach for it later on. Even so, he gently placed the letter from Bill with the others in their little box, not able to keep the smile off his face as he did so. He got himself some lunch and even went through some of his morning routine...only to promptly return to his earlier spot right after, move the box of letters nearby, close the game, curl up and go back to sleep. He had gotten his letter for the day and felt perfectly content to just sleep the rest of it off. 

Sighing happily, he let sleep grab a hold of him again.

The next time he woke up it was evening when it was already dark outside, but Dipper felt perfectly content with how long he had slept as he checked his iPod for the time. He might have messed up his sleeping program completely now but it wasn’t as if he cared about that or as if it hadn’t happened before. On the contrary, it happened quite a lot and with the whole immortality thing Dipper couldn’t quite bother to worry about it. He turned on a lamp and spent some time in bed just letting himself wake up as he traced the words for the letter he had gotten that day, happily rereading some parts and tracing the signature at the end of the page. 

Finally, he decided to get up and shower. 

He ended up taking a long bath instead, before dressing up in some pajama pants and a comfortable T-shirt he had lying around. He had just gotten back into the living room after drinking a cup of water and was looking through some of the games and DVDs there in hopes of finding something that would catch his interest when the familiar sound of the piano being played caught his attention. In an instant, he forgot whatever he had been thinking about a game or another and stumbled to his feet, knocking down the few towers of CDs he had built along the way. The tune continued playing but Dipper didn’t stop to figure out what song it was as his feet pumped against the wooden floors quickly as he ran to where the sound was coming from, almost slipping when he reached the entrance. The tune had stopped by then and Bill was waiting for him, standing near the piano with a knowing smirk on his face. 

“Missed me, Pine Tree? Admit it, you misse-“ The Demon didn’t even get to finish what he was about to say as the brunet all but flung himself into his arms, almost knocking him over. Even so, Bill couldn’t say he wasn’t happy with Dipper’s reaction as he wound his arms around the boy’s waist, chuckling at his enthusiasm while he held him close. 

“Welcome home.” Dipper greeted him, giving him a tight squeeze to emphasize that he had, indeed, missed him. Bill just barely got to kiss the crown of the boy’s head before Dipper cupped his face and pulled him into a long and passionate kiss he had definitely not been expecting, but hell if he’d refuse. It wasn’t like Dipper could help it. He had missed Bill and the Demon seemed to have been gone for centuries rather than for just a few weeks. He had missed his touch and presence and everything and after receiving all of those love letters from him he just felt like he himself was overflowing with love for the demon. He held the kiss for as long as he could, not willing to pull his lips apart from Bill’s. A smile pulled at his lips all the while and he could feel Bill’s grip around his waist tighten, hands brushing over pale skin where his T-shirt had gone up when initially hugging the Demon. He let out a small hum of appreciation and let himself wrap his arms around Bill’s neck once again, deepening the kiss. 

Finally, he pulled away, feeling dazed in the best of ways as he continued to cling to his partner. A golden eye gazed back at him lovingly, the other being covered by blond hair, and Dipper felt himself overcome once again with that feeling of love, leaning in for another kiss despite his breathlessness. He stole another kiss...and another...and a few more on the side of Bill’s lips and along his jaw, making the blond smile as he was showered in affection. “I missed you.” Dipper told him, still grinning as he met Bill’s lips with his own once again, not willing to let go or stop anytime soon. Bill barely got to say anything really, but that didn’t matter. He couldn’t stop smiling at the warm welcome Dipper was giving him and at all the kisses. He answered them in kind, moving his lips against Dipper’s with just as much want and passion. He made sure to hold him close, trailing his hands over his sides and on his back to earn a few appreciative hums and moans from his sweet Pine Tree. They continued with the kisses and gentle touches till the boy lost his breath completely and finally stopped for much needed air, making Bill chuckle with delight. 

Oh, his sweet, sweet, lovely Pine Tree...

And he looked absolutely beautiful with his kissed bruised lips, those blown doe eyes and that dazed expression on his face, dressed in a T-shirt with pajama pants hanging low on his hips. He looked positively delightful, a spark in his brown eyes and a smile on his lips. As to return the earlier kisses, Bill proceeded to pepper his lover with kisses in turn, on the corners of his mouth, along his jawline, on his cheeks, eyelashes, nose and, finally, on his forehead, pulling brown curls aside to look upon the birthmark his beloved bore. “I missed you too, Pine Tree.” He murmured sweetly to him, earning another quick kiss on the lips from the brunet as soon as he had finished the words, bodies pressed together and hands wound up securely around each other. He chuckled. “I take it you enjoyed the letters?” he inquired, stealing just one more kiss before pressing their foreheads together so he could look into those brown chocolate eyes and actually talk to his breathless, enthusiastic lover.

Frankly, Dipper was positively glowing that day and Bill wasn’t sure he could place as to why that was. Perhaps it was because of the letters, perhaps he was just very happy to see him back or perhaps this was how he looked when he was relaxed, rested and happy and Bill had just forgotten how beautiful he was while he was away even if he still saw him every day. He still saw how he opened each letter and read it and how he smiled or frowned, how he reread them continuously and moved his fingers over the golden ink the Demon wrote with, how he sighed wistfully or giggled to himself. Dipper just had something inherently beautiful about him and Bill doubted he’d ever get bored of it.

“I loved them!” Dipper answered, far too quickly and more than a bit giddy as a grin pulled on the corner of his lips, a blush dusting his cheeks. He pushed his forehead against Bill’s affectionately and moved his head to the side to press his lips to his in a loving kiss. “I loved them so much.” He repeated, breathing a soft sigh against the Demon’s lips, eyes half lidded, as he pulled away for just a moment before leaning in for another, longer kiss. When he finally pulled away, he once again pushed his forehead against Bill’s affectionately, feeling the gesture returned lovingly. “Thank you.” And Bill looked so very beautiful right then to him that Dipper truly had no idea what to do with himself, though the very same could be said about Bill as he gazed down upon his flustered love. 

“You’re welcome, Pine Tree.” A smile pulled on Bill’s lips as well and he pecked the boy’s kissed bruised ones shortly before pulling away. “That being said,” Seemingly out of nowhere, Bill pulled out an envelope. It was a simple dark red with a beautiful heart design, the familiar triangle sigil in the middle of it as always. Bill could literally see the way Dipper’s eyes widened in wonder and before he even thought about what he was doing, the brunet reached out, intending on taking the letter from Bill’s hand. However, just before his fingertips brushed the envelope, Bill raised his hand as to keep it away from him. “Nuh-uh-uh.” He tutted, admiring the confused and slightly baffled expression on Dipper’s face for a moment. Letting the letter flow in the air just a bit beyond Dipper’s reach, he gestured towards the clock on the wall, diverting Dipper’s attention for a split-second. “It’s still the thirteenth.” And by now Dipper should have known that he was to get one love letter per day.

He knew that.

It didn’t really stop him from quickly moving out of Bill’s grasp and climbing onto the piano chair to try and reach for the letter though. The movement was so quick that it caught Bill by surprise for a moment, even if he knew how quick and agile his little Pine Tree had gotten after so many adventures with the supernatural. It didn’t mean he approved of him getting the love letter quite yet though. Dipper was just about to reach for the envelope and grasp it when he felt something pushing against the back of his knees, promptly causing him to lose his balance and let out a small yell as he found himself falling into Bill’s arms. The Demon caught him securely, holding him close. “Seriously, Pine Tree, impatient much?” he asked, rolling his eyes and tightening his grip on Dipper as the boy tried squirming out of his grasp to no avail. 

“C’mon Bill, it’s mine!” He tried, whining childishly but the Demon didn’t seem about to let him go anytime soon as he started walking out of the piano room. 

“Oh, is it now?” he teased, not able to help the smirk on his lips. The letter came down and disappeared into one of Bill’s pockets, away from where Dipper could reach, making the brunet pout. Soon enough they found themselves back in the living room which still looked like a proper disaster with everything Dipper had gathered there along with the unmade bed. 

“It’s addressed to me, so yes.” Dipper retaliated, rolling his brown eyes and crossing his arms which only seemed to amuse the Demon who was still carrying him. 

“You will get it soon enough, but for now we have something to talk about.” That being said, the Demon proceeded to promptly let Dipper fall onto the pile of blankets and pillows the boy had made for himself the other day, without any warning what so ever. The boy yelped in surprise at being suddenly dropped, despite his soft fall. This time Dipper blinked, actually letting any thoughts about the love letter tucked neatly in Bill’s pocket move aside so he could concentrate on what the blond was telling him. It wasn’t as if they didn’t talk a lot generally but from what Dipper could make of Bill’s tone it wasn’t that sort of talk that he wanted to have with him right then. It was the sort of more serious talk that just couldn’t be avoided in the end, but however much and however quickly Dipper wracked his mind trying to figure out what exactly it could be that was bothering his other half, nothing came to mind right then. Not like Bill gave him much time to think it over anyway. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about Valentine’s Day?” 

Dipper blanched for what must have been a whole minute, staring at Bill as if he had just turned from his human form to his eldritch form without any warning or reason whatsoever. He blinked, wondering if Bill was pulling his leg for a moment and realizing he must have been silent for a bit too long from the way Bill was starting to look quite impatient. “I thought that as an all-powerful dream Demon that almost brought the apocalypse and the end of the world as we know it, and as the one who I have a deal for knowledge with, you’d know about it?” Really, what the hell was he supposed to answer to that? Bill looked exasperated with the answer, but Dipper had absolutely no idea what he had been expecting. It was Valentine’s Day. It was a commercial holiday and Bill had mentioned it before so clearly he must have known about it. What was that question even supposed to mean? 

Bill sighed, partly in exasperation and partly in resignation. Dipper watched as the blond got onto the bed, moving a few pillows aside so he would have more space. “I mean,” he started again, crossing his legs underneath him without taking his eye off of Dipper. “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to celebrate this stupid human holiday?” His tone was gentle but prompting nonetheless as he watched his partner patiently, despite how he had looked just a moment ago. 

Dipper’s first instinct was to want to answer something like ‘I don’t!’ and switch to a defensive mode as soon as it was brought up because he never intended on pulling Bill into a celebration he didn’t like or believe in. He never intended on making Bill uncomfortable or annoyed with something like that, especially when Bill himself had told him how absolutely ridiculous he found it, but before he could say anything realization overcame him. Wendy had been right. All of the letters were love letters...and they were for Valentine’s. “That’s why you’ve been sending me love letters.” Really, he was stupid. He should have realized this sooner. He was the smart one, he should have figured it out, but he had been so drunk on Bill’s words and so enticed with every golden letter and curve of writing that he had stopped thinking about it by the time the second letter had made its appearance. 

Ah, how could he have been so stupid? 

Bill never wrote him love letters, of course there had had to be a reason! It wasn’t to say that Bill didn’t love him, Bill always showered him with affection, left him little notes occasionally, took him to all sorts of places and brought him all sorts of gifts, often topping them off with kisses, Bill did love him a whole lot but love letters had never been part of the way in which he showed that to Dipper. Perhaps he shouldn’t have felt so because this had been Bill’s deliberate choice, it had been his decision to write Dipper love letters, but the brunet couldn’t help but suddenly feel guilty for all of the happiness he got from them. He felt as if perhaps he had unconsciously forced Bill into doing something he found uncomfortable or stupid by simply having the wish to celebrate Valentine’s, something which just seemed worse after he remembered how giddy he got with each letter. Then again, he had never mentioned wanting to celebrate Valentine’s Day, not to Bill and not to anyone else either. He made sure not to mention it so he wouldn’t worry the ones around him or push Bill into something he didn’t like so then that begged the question... ”Where did you hear I wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day?” 

For all of his earlier impatience, Bill answered Dipper quite calmly, not failing to notice the slight distress that seemed to have suddenly overcome the boy. Dipper probably didn’t notice it himself, but he shifted in his spot as if to move away from the incriminating black box with hearts on it where the love letters had been placed so neatly with the utmost of care whenever Dipper got a new one. Suddenly, he seemed quite reluctant to even glance at the pocket where the red envelope Bill had earlier showed him was. “Mabel chastised me and proceeded to hold me a lecture for several hours about Valentine’s Day when I told her we didn’t celebrate it together and that I was mostly gone for it.” And goodness could that girl go on for hours when the theme was love and anything to do with her brother. 

Dipper groaned loudly and put his face in his hands. Mabel...of course, Mabel had something to do with this! “That’s why you left early!” Really, he should have figured this out. Bill was his lover, he should have seen something was wrong. What was the matter with him? No wonder Mabel had been happy when she heard, it was her doing hence why she had been more pushy about knowing more compared to other times when she’d give up after Dipper insisted on not wanting to talk about it. The Demon just gave a small shrug at the exclamation, but Dipper missed it as he dragged his hands across his face in pure dismay. “I am so sorry about that. I’ll talk to her, promise.” He hurried to say, hoping he could still settle this right. He just had to have a very long discussion with Mabel and assure Bill it was fine and that he did not want to celebrate Valentine’s Day, then everything would be fine and the absolute embarrassment he felt over all of the work that had needlessly gone over for him would disappear sooner or later. Bill looked like he was about to interject, but Dipper didn’t let him. “I’ll talk to her and clear it up, so it’ll be fine. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know she pushed you into this.” Really, he had been so stupid...”You really didn’t have to go through the trouble for all that, I know you don’t celebrate it.”

With the way things were looking, Dipper was just about to go on a tangent about everything and Bill was shocked enough with the words from him already, he didn’t need him freaking out over something that had been intended to make him happy. And Gods knew he got the whole thing wrong. “Kid, that’s not what I asked you.” He snapped, unable to hold himself back from the tone when Dipper was getting everything wrong. For goodness sake, that was not what happened, it wasn’t his intention to make Dipper nervous or a frazzled mess through this discussion and, frankly, he couldn’t understand why Dipper was getting so wound up over it either. They hadn’t ever really talked about Valentine’s Day in detail so now that Dipper was reacting so strongly to the whole situation and the mention of the day it was a bit baffling...and worrying. If Dipper liked the damn celebration so much he should have told him. They always talked things through so how come this one had escaped them for fourteen blasted years? 

As if to make things more difficult, Dipper was being quite closed up about the topic and it kind of pained Bill to see Dipper like this because he could tell the other was keeping things from him and he hated it. They barely kept things from each other and for all of their craziness they had a relationship built on a lot of trust. It hurt to hear him deny answering him. “I don’t!” And the answer was so quick that it was clear it was a lie, the tone was nothing like the sincere ‘I missed you’ that had been said just as quickly in the piano room. He seemed to realize this as well because he tried to clear his voice as if that would help him, before once again repeating, this time slower. “I, I mean I don’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It’s fine.” Did the kid really believe he’d buy that lie? He looked so frazzled that it was obvious even for a fool and Bill could almost hear his heartbeat wanting to escape from his chest. He looked just about to spill out another apology as well, seriously...

Before Dipper could go on, Bill got up from his spot, standing on the bed and promptly making Dipper shut up. The boy gulped, wondering if he had just managed to somehow make the Demon mad instead of making the situation better. All the same, Bill had every reason to be mad at him for making him participate in something he didn’t like. Those letters were so lovely and thorough as well. Just how much had Bill spent on them? If he hated them, if he really didn’t enjoy this whole thing and just wrote them so Dipper wouldn’t feel left out then did that mean that they were actually horribly painful to write? That they went slow and he often ran out of ideas? That every little golden curve on them was stressful and annoying rather than flowing and loving? It really tore at Dipper’s heart to think like that so he tried not to but when looking at this objectively, that was probably what happened. Bill made a few steps on the bed and plopped down next to Dipper. A dark skinned hand reached for a pale one and Dipper found himself being pulled closer. Bill soon grasped both of his hands and pulled him closer to him till Dipper was straddling him. For a moment, the boy relaxed, thinking that maybe that was enough, that maybe Bill would let it slide, that maybe all he’d have to do was hide the letters or – although it pained him – maybe burn them, and everything would be forgotten. 

However, Bill had no intention of closing this conversation on this note. 

“Do you seriously expect me to believe that after I saw how you lit up whenever reading one of those letters?” Dipper tensed at the words. Bill had thought that perhaps he had calmed down for the moment but by the way he tensed against him as soon as the topic was brought back up, it seemed not. If he could have, Dipper would have moved away or at the very least fidgeted with something nearby, but as he was right then Bill was holding his hands while Dipper was straddling him so moving was pretty much out of the question. The only thing he could do was tighten his grip on Bill’s hands ever so slightly. How was he supposed to answer that? Was he supposed to apologize for being happy about them? He could have apologized because he didn’t intend to put Bill through the trouble of writing them against his will, but he had the feeling that was the wrong answer right then. Bill gave his hands a gentle squeeze and ran his thumbs over his knuckles in a calming gesture even as Dipper tried to avoid his gaze. “Be honest with me, Pine Tree.” He prompted him gently, voice soft. “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day?” 

Honesty was indeed a thing. For all it was worth, the two had their little rules when talking things over. They were supposed to be honest with each other, they were supposed to not leave a fight unresolved and they were supposed to not let a fight end with one of them being displeased because they were supposed to figure things out together. Hell, Bill’s last letter had been exactly about how they always managed to work things out, so why not this time? Well, mostly because Dipper had considered the topic closed long ago and it felt a bit painful to open it again, for various reasons. He didn’t even have a good answer for Bill really. He shrugged, a gesture so small that Bill barely noticed it as he tried to meet Dipper’s eyes but the boy kept avoiding his own for the time being. Dipper sighed and finally brought his gaze to meet Bill’s. 

“You don’t celebrate it.” Gods, was that a stupid defense, but it was the main reason Dipper didn’t bring it up. “I don’t want to push you into celebrating something you don’t want to. I know you come home with us for family holidays and everything but those are family things, it’s different. I don’t want to push you into celebrating Valentine’s Day when you don’t like it just because I want to. You didn’t seem to like it too much when I asked you the first time.” Dipper admitted, feeling a bit under scrutiny as Bill continued looking at him. Bill never broke their eye-contact and it was making Dipper feel a bit nervous as he spoke even if Bill was being most patient with him as he waited for him to speak. Not that he liked the words Dipper was telling him but he wanted Dipper to get everything off of his chest before he said anything. “It’s not like it’s a big deal anyway,” Dipper continued, ignoring how his throat felt a bit dry by this point. “I mean it’s just a commercial holiday and it’s not like I ever got anything on Valentine’s Day before either, so I don’t mind it just becoming another day in the calendar. I don’t want you celebrating something just because Mabel pushed you into it either, even if it’s for ‘my sake’. Really, I’m fine with not celebrating it.” 

Why did his reassurance have to sound so feeble? He really was trying to push this aside because he knew it was a stupid topic to Bill who didn’t care for Valentine’s, but it wasn’t working out too well. It was true though, Dipper never really got love letters on Valentine’s before or cards or anything. It hurt a lot but he was used to dealing with that sort of pain. It had hurt a lot worse before when he had been expecting to perhaps maybe get something that year for once in his life, maybe just one card, it wasn’t like he wanted that much. But once he was together with Bill logic had helped a bit. Bill didn’t celebrate it so there was no expectation to get something for him or receive something in return. The pain was still there but it was pretty numb and just appeared a bit around this period and when he saw couples on Valentine’s Day, along with all of the hearts decorating everything. He didn’t mind it that much though and he was very happy with Bill at his side. He didn’t want to get into some stupid argument or make Bill start dreading February because Dipper wanted him to celebrate some silly Valentine’s event with him when the Demon clearly didn’t like it.

If Dipper’s words had hurt at the beginning because the boy wasn’t willing to tell him the truth from the start or share his thoughts with him, they just made him mad as they got near the end. He wasn’t mad at the boy though, he was more so mad at the world in general for causing his Pine Tree to feel loveless, all for some stupid holiday which had no magical significance or anything. In truth, the whole thing looked quite gaudy if not done right. Still, it held enough significance to his Pine Tree that it was able to hurt him so much, so while Bill was not really willing to give it any attention, he was willing to give his Pine Tree more attention as to make sure he never felt this way again in the future. 

Seriously though, where did this kid even get some of his thoughts? 

“Kid, I literally find all of your human holidays pathetic, stupid and best as comic relief rather than of any significant value.” Dipper rolled his eyes a little at his lover. He already knew that much and he actually found it a bit amusing really, all the more so when he and Mabel dragged Bill into dressing up for Halloween or decorating the tree with them – that never ended up well. Even so, the gesture was an almost casual one and Bill was happy to see his Pine Tree a bit more comfortable as he continued talking. “And I am not doing this because of Shooting Star.” He filled in, which at least got Dipper to look a bit inquiring of the situation. Curiosity suited him well. Bill let go of the boy’s hands and wrapped an arm around the boy’s waist, gently moving a few brown curls from Dipper’s eyes with his other hand. Gently, as if Dipper would melt underneath his touch otherwise, he placed a kiss on his star adorned forehead. “When I was over at Shooting Star in January, we wanted to have a look at that Lamby Lamby picture of you.” 

That got him a groan of dismay. “Why would you want to look at that! Oh my God, I’m never leaving you two alone again.” Seriously, these two were going to be the end of him. His reaction drew a chuckle from the Demon who pressed another kiss to his forehead playfully, then one on the tip of his nose and a last short peck on his lips.

“As I was saying,” Bill continued, a grin on his lips as he looked at the embarrassed brunet in his arms. Dipper would never get over that Lamby Lamby picture and Mabel would never give it up either. “We were looking through pictures of when you two were younger and we got to one where you looked quite glum, Pine Tree.” He explained, fingers moving through brown curls soothingly as he spoke. “If what Shooting Star told me is correct, it was from Valentine’s Day and you had been crying because you hadn’t gotten any silly cards.” Bill didn’t think Dipper could blush more than when he had brought up the Lamby Lamby picture but right then he could see Dipper’s cheeks redden even more with pure embarrassment, a different type than before. Once again, Dipper tried avoiding his gaze so Bill cupped his chin and made him look at him instead. “I did not write you those love letters because Shooting Star pushed me to writing them or because of her lecture – though goodness knows I had forgotten how hard she can hit when she puts her mind to it, she really took some boxing lessons from Fez.” That seemed to get him a small smile from Dipper which in turn made Bill smile back, his thumb brushing along the boy’s jaw in a loving gesture. 

“I wrote you those letters because she told me Valentine’s Day was important to you. I wanted to make you happy.” 

The words were so sweet and gentle that Dipper wanted to melt. It made him happy, the idea that Bill had written those out of his free will, that he had wanted to write those for him, that each little curve of golden ink was indeed imbedded with all the love Bill held for him and had been easy to write, that instead of searching for ideas Bill had just randomly found himself with several pages and had decided that instead of sending one each day he’d get a bigger envelope and put them all together for that day’s theme, that Bill loved him enough to put thought into everything from the colour of the ink to the envelope and the sword-shaped letter opener. It made him extremely happy to know that Bill had gone through all of that effort to make love letters for him while never considering them a chore or something he had an obligation to do, but just something that would make the brunet happy and that would be able to convey his affection for his life-partner. 

Still...

“But you don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.” Dipper insisted, biting the inside of his cheek even as he brought a hand up to hold onto Bill’s almost shyly. 

Bill scoffed. “Hell no.” Dipper felt his stomach drop for a moment even with all of Bill’s earlier words. The arm around his waist tightened its grip and pulled him closer. “But I do love you, Pine Tree.” He insisted, smiling at the brunet. “I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day but I can celebrate loving you and show you how much I cherish you on this date if that makes you happy.” The assurance was warm and sweet and Dipper’s whole body seemed to relax with the words, a soft sigh escaping his lips. Bill smirked. “Plus!” Okay, that couldn’t be good with how excited the Demon’s tone suddenly became. “You never let me celebrate our soul bond date. Now I can just celebrate that and loving you both on the 14th of February! It’s not the same date, but that doesn’t count – time is an illusion.” That was true enough, Dipper refused to celebrate that date, which was somewhere in the middle of summer mind you, because he hated the idea of Bill having tricked him still, not to mention summer was always a bit tricky with celebrations and lots of old bad memories. He still didn’t quite approve of it but he could see where Bill was coming from and it did make the Demon happy as well. Dipper couldn’t help a small giggle at the Demon’s enthusiasm which just made Bill smile wider. Dipper himself couldn’t keep the grin off of his lips.

“I love you.” Dipper told him and leaned in to seal their little consensus with a long, sweet and loving kiss. Bill happily reciprocated it, wrapping both arms around Dipper and holding him close. 

“I love you too, Pine Tree.” He answered once the kiss was over, smiling at the boy. 

“Can I open my letter now?” Dipper asked, showing the red letter he had snatched from the Demon’s pocked during their kiss. Bill blinked, realizing what the boy had just done. Seriously, the things Fez taught these kids! “Please? It’s almost midnight.” He tried again, giving Bill the most innocent expression he could muster. 

“Well, it is addressed to you.” Bill conceded and before he knew it Dipper was off of his lap and leaning over to grasp onto the letter opener he had left on the table. Bill couldn’t help but smile as he watched him get so impatient over a silly letter, though admittedly he had tried his best to make this particular one the most romantic out of the bunch so he was also excited to see Dipper melt as he read it. Once the brunet acquired the sword shaped object he made his way back to Bill and snuggled up close to him. Bill wrapped his arms around Dipper and nuzzled into his neck, smiling as he placed a kiss in the crook of his neck, making the boy giggle. Once he was comfortably sitting in the familiar embrace of the blond Demon, Dipper started to tear the envelope.

Valentine’s hadn’t even started and it was already perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the final chapter! Enjoy the silly cuties.

**Author's Note:**

> Here is my extremely late contribution to Billdip week, literal fluff to do with love letters and a cute Dip Dop who loves romantic gestures.
> 
> Amative means 'inclined to love' or 'amorous' and I thought it a fitting word so here you go...it's a fancy and pretty word so I had to use it.


End file.
